You Can't Fix Me
by 18 years of Blue
Summary: Madison hasn't had the beautiful, fairy tale childhood that you see in the movies. She has the type of life that nobody talks about because of all the emotional turmoil that people aren't comfortable discussing. Fortunately fate cuts her a break and sends her packing to little ole La Push where she meets a not so gentle giant that simply can't be good for her. Paul/OC/Complete
1. Chapter 1

**This is about Madison, who hasn't had the best examples of what love and relationships are supposed to be like. There are hints of child molestation and rape in a few chapters, but nothing that goes into detail. She moves to La Push and meets Paul, who isn't exactly the gentle giant that everyone thinks Madison needs. In this story we'll see how Paul and Madison work through their childhood issues together to become better people for themselves and each other. **

**This is a sort chapter just so we can see what kind of environment Madison grew up in. **

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><p>I try not to cry, but I can't help it. I curl myself up into a ball and let the tears flow freely. I stay like that for too long and I can feel my legs falling asleep, so I get up and stretch before I find my journal. I keep it in a oversized teddy bear that my dad won for me at a fair a few months before he died. My journal is huge and has enough pages to write something every day for three years, but I only write when something big happens or when I really feel like it. I've kept this journal for ten years because its the last thing my mom ever gave me, besides a few bumps and bruises, but I don't think those count. I laugh quietly in my head while a flip through the pages that are more beige than white, looking for a blank one.<p>

_April 27, 2000_

_Daddy is dead mommy told me. She says he is in hevan now. I ask mommy were hevan is and she says she dont really no. I ask her how does she no daddy is in hevan if she doesnt know were hevan is. She laffed and says it is becus daddy was a good man and that good men always end up in hevan. She got me this diary as a present and told me to right down my feelins in it._

_July 3, 2000_

_Mommy started dating again. She brought a man named Robert home. He talked and walked kindda funny. Like I do when im real sleepy. I guess she tried to sneak him in because she was suprised to see me up watching cartoons. She told me I should be in bed because I wouldnt want to be tired for school. I guess she forgot that tomorrows Indipendance Day and that there is never school on July fourth._

_December 4, 2003_

_Robert came into my room last night. I could tell he was drunk because his breath smelled real bad and he was walking funny again. He said I was pretty and told me I shouldnt let my perfect body go to waste whatever that means. Robert slept in my room that night. He played with my hair and kissed my neck and shoulder. He said I was the prettyist girl there ever was._

_August 19, 2008_

_Bryson is good to me. He doesn't hit me when I say no because apparently he likes to keep his girl looking pretty. At least he wears a condom. He pays for my birth control pills and he buys me nice things. Bry is 33, thats younger than mom and way older than me. Mom is 38 and shes always high or drunk. She knows Bryson comes into my room every night, so she beats me for "taking" her man. As if I asked him to hold me down and force himself on me while he pats my head like i'm his good little fuck doll. Bry beats mom when she beats me and then she beats me again when he beats her. Then he beats her again until its not fun for him anymore. Its all an endless cycle of abuse around here and its getting old._

_August 23, 2008_

_Bryson told me he loved me for the first time and it would have been kind of sweet if it wasn't right after he hit me for the first time. I dont know if I trust him anymore. Should I have lied and told him I loved him back? Maybe I should love him back_.

I shake my head at the tomfoolery that is my life and silently wish for my dad. Lissa was a good person before he died and I can't imagine the type of life that I would have if he never left us. I find a blank page and start to write.

_May 17, 2010_

_I didnt go to school today, but thats not really anything new I guess. There is no way I could hide all of the bruises from Mike and Lissa's little game of kick the ginger that went down last night. Instead of being in the semi safe environment of my less than stellar high school, I was stuck in my room all day while Tweedledee and Tweedledum got high, drunk and sexy all over the two bedroom apartment. I didn't eat today and when I snuck out of my room to ask mom for money while Mike was in the bathroom she laughed in my face. I guess she was full off of drugs and cheap liquor. There is absolutely nothing to do in my room so I skimmed through my journal and added some stuff up. (I would even venture to say that this counts as Math, English, History and Sex Ed.. So, excluding lunch and Science, I've pretty much had a full day of school in about a half hour.) I've had the pleasure of knowing thirteen sex partners in a ten year time span, all of which were dating my lovely mother, I've been molested and raped to many times to count, i've had two different STD's (thankfully both treatable by a simple pill or shot). And to top off my ever growing list i've had one beautiful baby boy that I sold, legally much to Lissa's annoyance, for some much needed money. This shit has got to stop, pronto._

I shut my depressing little book and tuck it back into my bear before cuddling with him. "Jer Bear, we need to do something about this fucked up situation that we find ourselves in." I kiss his cheek and shut my eyes knowing that I would be safe from Mike tonight because of my locked door and distracting mother.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: In the chapter after this one Madison makes the move. Read and Review please. Beta anyone?**

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><p>"Get up," I hear Lissa say. I don't move, I just lay there thinking that she might cut me a break for once in my life. She doesn't. Instead she burns the tip of my left pinky with her cigarette until I realize that i'm in pain and roughly push her away.<p>

"What the hell?" I scream and much to my annoyance she laughs. She thinks my pain is funny and I want to kick her two front teeth out that I know are rotting away from her constant drug use. In fact, all of her is rotting away, not just her once pretty smile. Her used to be tan skin is pale, but still kind of brown because half of her is Native American. In the past her hair was long and luscious, a light brown that flowed into naturally glossy waterfall curls. Now its stringy, still long but limp and lifeless. Her infamously shapely figure had given way to the unfamiliar drugs in her system almost instantly and she's now a tiny little stick woman with her bones poking at her skin, threatening to tear through the thin unhealthy organ and expose her rotting insides for the world to see. I don't remember when it happened, maybe it was a gradual, unnoticeable kind of thing, but my mother is now as ugly on the outside as she is on the inside.

"Get up." She repeats through her nerve wrecking laughter, "Get up and go to school. Your teacher called,_ again_. Go to school and make sure that bitch doesn't call anymore. She's lucky she didn't wake my man up. I cant believe she had the nerve to call so early in the morning…" She left my room still complaining and I drag myself out of bed. I glance at the clock and roll my eyes. Its 10:00 in the morning. I sneak off to the bathroom, hoping not to attract attention from the supposedly sleeping Mike, and throw myself into a much needed shower. The hot water feels good and pretty soon I get distracted by the mesmerising sight of my pale, bruised skin turning pink under the scalding hot water. I get out of the shower when the water runs cold and wrap a beach towel around my body.

I shuffle to the sink and brush my teeth. While staring into the foggy mirror I scrutinize my appearance. My red hair was long and reached the middle of my back. I smiled as I cataloged all of the things I inherited from my father and his family. Red hair, and unruly splatters of freckles across both my cheeks, big green eyes and pale skin. From my mother I received an attractive figure. She was taller than me, but I had the curves that she was once known for. From her Native American roots I was gifted with high cheek bones that most people found attractive and long, thick eyelashes. I also gained a plethora of bruises from the night before that covered my fair skin. Luckily I was a quick healer and the ugly marks were already turning into faded yellow blotches.

I snuck back to my room and threw on some kind-of-clean clothes and the oversized hoodie that once belonged to my dad. Slipping my cheap converse knockoffs onto my little feet I grabbed the Ipod that Mike bought me when he was still trying to impress my mom. After one quick glance at the full length mirror on my closet door to make sure most of the bruises were covered up I was out my bedroom door and almost out of the apartment.

"Madison, wait."

"Yeah Mike?" I respond while looking at the front door anxiously. I was so close to getting out without causing any problems.

He reached into his pocket and handed me a twenty dollar bill. "Get me as much alcohol as you can. Whatever's good. Bring me back my change and booze or dont come back, you hear me sugar tits?" He raises his slimy eyebrow at me and wiggles the other one suggestively. I swallow my disgust and nod before starting the short walk to school.

Half an hour later i'm there and slowly walking into my third class which is halfway over. The teacher looks at me disapprovingly and I roll my eyes at her. Stuck up bitch always had a stick up her rear end. I see my best friend in the back surrounded by boys, per usual, but she doesn't see me yet so I glare at some random until she moves out of her seat. I cop a squat and kick my feet up on an empty chair next to me and ignore the boring lecture that Mrs.B-something is giving. I have a staring contest with the clock until the bell rings twenty-five minutes later. I hightail it out of there before the teacher can even think about asking me to stay behind and wait outside of the door for Shay to be carried out by her group of flockies. When she eventually does leave the class she's naturally the last one out and almost walks by me. I say almost because I stick my foot out and she trips, landing on her hands and knees.

"Thats a good look for you. Maybe you should stay that way." Says some gross upperclassman and I pretend I was swatting at a fly when my hand accidentally connects with his face. By this time Shay has rolled over and is laying on her back overtaken by the giggles. She thinks my violent streaks are funny and her laughter always finds a way to make me even less pissed off. I wink at her and help her up.

"I could of died just now, did you know that? Did you know that I could of died and then you would have died because you know you can't live without me. " She's still laughing, but is leading me to our next class. Boring ass Art History, I swear they give all the freshmen classes that no one signed up for. I nod and pretend that I would be devastated if she had died by tripping, but really I'd probably die too. Death by laughter because that would be some funny shit. You know, minus the best friend dying part.

"Are you listening?" I turn to her and blink a few times. She rolls her eyes and I flash her my you-love-me-tons smile. "I said that I missed you. You haven't been to school in a week. Where ya been?"

I shrug and ask her about herself which is always a safe topic when one is trying to distract a Shay. While she drones on about all of the senior boys that wanted in her pants I let myself drift off into la la land. I remember when Shay and I first met. Early in the school year she was cornered by a bunch of snobby bitches that were jealous of the new latina girl with pretty features and exotic accent. All the boys wanted her, even if she was only a freshmen and it pissed girls off when the boy they've been pining for suddenly takes interest in a new, prettier, younger girl. I was in a violent mood that day and was just waiting for a reason to blow up at someone. I stumbled across the little bitch parade and Shay called out for help. Im one for diplomacy and all that crap so I told the girls to fuck off before I beat the snot out of them. They thought that I was so fucking funny because really, what was a little freshy like me going to do against five upperclassmen, unfortunately they didn't know that I had been fighting grown men since I was six. And on top of that they didn't know that I abso-fucking-lutely hated being laughed at. Needless to say I was suspended for four days. When I came back Shay attached herself to my hip and we've been friends ever since.

After Art History we skipped off to lunch that consisted of me storing the nonperishable items from lunch into my bag for dinner and me scarfing down both of our lunches. Shay flirted with the boys that always flocked her and pretending that she didn't notice me eyeing the guy's lunches while I stole their apples and oranges. After lunch we quietly walked to gym and changed into the uniforms that the school provided. We opted out of volleyball and decided to walk around the outdoor track instead. Even though I hid the top part of my body with the big hoodie I really couldn't do anything about my legs in the short shorts that girls were required to wear in the hot seasons. As we walked Shay eyed my legs, but didn't say anything about the bruises.

"You wanna come spend the night at my house tomorrow? I'd invite you over tonight, but my dad leaves for his stupid business trip tonight and you know how he gets when I have company…" Shay lived at home with her dad because her mom was God knows where. Honestly Shay is a total slut. I think she has a serious mental problem. She'll fuck anything with a hard on, including her dad. In fact I think she _prefers_ her dad, which I just don't understand, but she's my only friend so I don't judge and quite frankly I don't care who she screws. As long as she doesn't bother me about my shit, I don't bother her about hers. But every now and then she throws me a bone by asking me to stay over and she has her cook prepare a fuck load of food because she knows i'm always hungry, but her dad is super freaking paranoid. He won't touch her if she has someone over and, like I said, Shay has a problem. She needs the sex or she goes bat shit crazy.

I nod my head. "You think Drake could lug me around to a few places before he drops you off?" Drake is the driver. Shay gets one until she can drive next year, which I doubt she'll do. With a loaded daddy she can have a driver until she dies and she likes texting too much to stop so she can watch a silly little road.

"Yeah no problem. Gym's almost over. Race you to the building!" The little cheat breaks off into a run and I shake my head while I run behind her. The girls an natural born sprinter so I lose by a disgraceful distance and shes laughing at me when I finally reach the door out of breath and having a heart attack.

You're out of shapedness makes me sad." She said while holding her sides. The only reason she's out of breath is from the rude and excessive laughing. I shoot her a glare and stomp into to the gym ignoring her childishly while I changed my clothes. I wait for her begrudgingly and then I walk her to her next class before retreating to my favorite class, Advanced Placement Chemistry. I was the only freshmen in the class because it was typically reserved for overachieving seniors. It goes without saying that when i'm missing everyone in the class knows because there are a total of eleven of us and i'm the only fifteen year old. The teacher hasn't arrived yet and I settle down in my seat towards the back of the class. This was the reason I was here, other than lunch. She was the teacher that wouldn't stop calling. It was cute that she cared.

Ms. Lomer walked into the class all colorful and distracting. The woman was a modern day hippie decorated in hearts and peace signs with her hair done up in chopsticks. I haven't the slightest clue how she got into teaching a science class like Chemistry. I could see her as an art teacher, but nope she was crazy about chemistry.

"Welcome all to the lovely world of chemistry. I hope you left all preconceived connotations about science and the world at the door." Each day she started the class with the same greeting, as if every day was the first day of school. "Today we go on an adventure with our trusty guide, Fire. Get your goggles out, for on this day, we play with fire and put flames to the test!" She sat at her desk and slipped on her glasses.

"But first, we have to get through the pesky task of attendance." She clicked a few things on the old computer and started to call roll. When she got to my name she easily breezed past it and almost missed me when I let out a shy "Here."

Here head shot up and she gave me a pleased smile, but then continued with class as if me being here wasn't abnormal. When it was all over I stayed behind and approached her desk timidly. "Hi Ms. Lomer. My mom wanted me to talk to you about-"

"Do you know that you are absolutely too far behind the other students. If you stay after school or come here during your lunch period I could positively catch you up in a matter of days. You're definitely one of the smartest students i've ever taught and if we just work-"

"Ms. Lomer I need-"

"Oh it'll be marvelous, we can go as fast as a ultraviolet wavelength. How splendid I can even use you as an example for other students. How does that sound Madison?"

"It sounds spectacular Ms. Lomer, but you can't call my house anymore it really disturbs my sickly mother to be woken up out of her much needed rest, so we'd really appreciate it if you would refrain from making house calls from this moment forward." I lied as smoothly and professionally as I could. She nodded her head and looked at me with sad eyes. I moved to leave the class, but she stopped me by placing her hand on top of mine.

"You can tell me anything you know that, right? Whatever you want Madison, i'm here for you." I smile and nod before exiting the classroom. "See you tomorrow!"

I rush to meet Shay outside of the school and spot the sleek, black, stretch Hummer. I jog to the car and as I approach the heavy door is opened from the inside and almost hits a sophomore girl with unnatural pink and yellow hair. I giggle when she drops her phone and has a mini heart attack trying to catch it. I slip into the car after an embarrassing amount of tries of getting into the ridiculously tall monstrosity. Shay is laughing after I finish huffing and puffing from the unwanted physical exercise so I flip her the bird. I crawl to the window separating the back and drivers seat and slid it open to talk to Drake. I give him the location and he drives us there with a disapproving glance thrown my way. I stuck my tongue out at him and he dared to crack a smile. Drake thought I was a bad influence, but liked me well enough.

I hopped out of the car and ran to the side of the liquor store to find some poor drunk with no fix. "Buy me a couple of bottles with this and I'll give you five bucks." I tell the woman. She nods and returns with the booze. I give her the money promised and head back to the car. Shay gives me that look that I hate and tells Drake to take me home. By the time we get there Shay is rocking something fierce and bouncing up and down all over the place.

"I gotta pee or i'm gonna freakin kill my bladder." I look at her warily. And shake my head.

"Oh well." I say in response and make to leave the car. She grabs my arm and whines at me, almost whimpering. I roll my eyes. "You don't want to go up there Shay." She starts rocking harder all melodramatic like and I roll my eyes again, but this time in exasperated defeat. She smiles and shoots up the stairs past the drug boys and dope fiends.

"24C right?" She yells. I chase after her and yell at her to just slow the fuck down. She reaches the apartment and I hear sounds coming from within. There are people here and it fucking sucks that Shay has already started knocking on the door because she knows I don't have a key. The door swings open and Jay is here which just turned my good day to shit because Jay fucking sucks some major ass. He's the guy that deals to Lissa and has made more than one pass at me. Shay gives him a nervous smile, but not before checking him out. Its a natural reaction and she can't help it, however Jay doesn't know that and he takes that as a sign of her being interested. I push her towards the bathroom and go in there with her. I lock the door while she does her business, but before she's done Jay and Mike are knocking on the bathroom door telling us to come out and play.

Shay's eyes are wide with surprise and worry. I can tell she doesn't want to go back out and I don't blame her. Jay is a fucking creep and Mike'll fuck anything moving. After a while Jay is tired of playing, but Mike isn't so he sticks by the door. Talking about how good the two of us would look together or feel around his junk. Lissa is actually getting a little turned on, but she can tell that i'm not. I usher her out of the bathroom window down one of the fire escapes. She looks up at me worried and I tell her i'll see her in school tomorrow, hoping that she wouldn't think too much on it. I thank God everyday that Shay is a nosy mother fucker that can't mind her business.


	3. Chapter 3

It's funny how quickly things can go from zero to sixty in a split second. Not long after Shay left Mike had managed to bust the bathroom door down and was chasing me around the apartment much to his shifty friends' amusement. Jay tripped me and I stumbled which gave Mike enough time to catch up to me. He grabbed me by my traitorous hair and I fell backwards and into his arms. If I had learned anything about Mike it was that he liked it when you fought him, he thought that the struggle was what made it fun, so to spite him I went completely still. I was stiff as a boar and Mike must have been in a good mood because he thought that it was funny. He hit the back of my knees with his foot so I fell over and started dragging me towards my bedroom. Before we could get there the front door was knocked down and a few police officers rushed in. After the cops came in the entire room went bat shit crazy.

Jay tried to make a break for the fire escape because he probably had the most to lose being a notorious dealer with a lot of illegal drugs and weapons on him. Mike, who was still towering above me, was kind of frozen. I bet we were a funny sight, him with wide eyes and me holding my head, trying to relieve myself from the pain of having my weight supported by my hair. All the while a swarm of drug dealers and abusers ran around the apartment in an attempt to get away from the cops. I would have laughed if my mom wasn't passed out on the couch with what was probably a dirty needle still inserted in her very prominent vein. I was pretty sure she was going to get into some trouble for that one.

After a while everybody but Lissa and I were in handcuffs. She was on her way to the hospital and I was sitting inside a detective's car on my way to the police station. When we got there I was told write a statement about what happened tonight and then was instructed to make one about any incidents that were similar to this one that may have happened before. After I finished my statement, which admittedly wasn't very informative, a solemn looking women came into the room I was waiting in. She handed me a doll and asked me where I've been touched by Mike, Lissa or any other boyfriends Lissa may have had. I told her I was too old for that doll and explained to her with unnecessarily vivid details what I experienced living with Lissa. I knew I wasn't making the situation better for myself, but I got comfort from seeing her squirm. I could tell she was uncomfortable with how comfortable I was discussing the sensitive subject of how I had been violated, but I had come to terms with it along time ago and if she wanted to talk about it then I wasn't going to spare any details. I'm a thorough person and my twisted sense of humor wasn't getting me any brownie points with the uptight woman. I was probably going to be institutionalized based on the amount of times I laughed when her face contorted itself into one of disgust.

A few hours after the woman left a man entered. I started to believe that they had forgotten I was here and seriously considered sneaking out and bumming a ride to Shay' man sat down introduced himself and asked me about family. I told I didn't have any that I knew of and I could just go with Shay if they needed somewhere to dump me.

"That will not do. According to your mother's medical records she has a living relative, her mother to be more exact, that is listed as her emergency contact. We called her and explained the… situation. We made it perfectly clear that you also had the option of living in a group home if either of you chose that option. She expressed to Child Protective Services that she would be delighted to have you. Would you prefer to stay with her?"

I raised my eyebrow questioningly at him. "I don't know her. Are you sure I can't stay with my friend? Her dad is loaded and he likes me well enough. They won't mind."

"There's an entire process that is separate and more time consuming if you want a non-related person to have custody of you. First you'd have to take up residence in a group home or we'd have to find a foster family. And of course we would have to do a thorough investigation to make sure he is a fit guardian and if there is anything illegal or immoral-"

"You talk way too much." I interrupted. I decided that a thorough investigation at Shay's probably wouldn't have the desired effect."How old is this woman? Where does she live? Why would she take in a teen that she's never met before? What's wrong with her? You're asking me to make a big decision without giving me any real information."

"Her name is Qhala Day and she's 53. She lives in La Push which is a small Native American reservation in Washington State. According to her its a wonderful community where everybody knows everybody. I don't think there is anything wrong with her as you so eloquently put it, but she is an older woman living alone. She might be lonely and she is your grandmother."

"What would happen if I decided that I didn't like it there?" I asked.

"Well i'm not sure how La Push deals with social work because reservations have their own forms of government, but i'm sure there is a policy regarding issues of the sort. It would be out of the state of Illinois' hands."

"What about Mike and Lissa? Could they come find me when they get out?"

"No. Lissa has lost custody of you and she and Mike will be given a no contact order. Meaning they may not contact you in any form, shape or way. Now in Chicago it might be difficult to never see them because they do live here. If you leave you may be asked to come back for a while to testify against them in court-".

"Wait, what?" I interrupted. "You mean they aren't in jail?"

"They are in jail now and have been charged with numerous counts, but they haven't been found guilty of anything yet. It would take a judge or jury to decide rather or not they are innocent of the crimes-".

"I'll go. And i'll come back and talk if you need me too, but I want to go to Washington with that lady ok. Start getting that shit together. Where am I going to stay before i'm shipped out?"

The guy looked at me in that exasperating way that clearly is a nonverbal way of saying cursing is "unlady" like. "You need to go pack up your things. You'll be staying at a hospital tonight for examinations and we'll have you on a plane tomorrow."

"Tomorrow seems kind of quick, but I can be cool with that. Lets go."

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><p>The other passengers on the plane kept giving me dirty looks because I kept moving around in my seat. I'll admit I made a little noise in doing so, but it wasn't like I was directing a marching band. Besides I deserved the right to adjust myself in a comfortable position considering the night I had at the hospital of cold, metal horrors and intruding doctor hands. Staying at the hospital really sucked with all the poking and prodding they did to my lady parts. I got to call Shay though and she threw a fit when she found out I was moving. But she was happy that I was getting out of what she called "fucked up castle" even if we didn't get to see each other everyday anymore. We promised to stay in touch and all of that sappy crap girls do when they lose their best friend. I swear, Shay was acting like I had died or something.<p>

After a three hour flight, I found myself in Port Angeles waiting for my grandmother's friend's grandson to pick me up because she didn't drive. He was late and I was agitated and not looking forward to an hour and a half long drive with the tardy little brat. I didn't even know what the guy looked like, so its needless to say that I was a little defensive when a six foot seven man walked up to me in the middle of the airport.

"Are you Qhala's granddaughter, Megan?" He asked me in a deep, baritone voice. He had the nerve to hold out his hand like we were meeting on friendly terms.

"My name is Madison, and you're an hour late." I said in a snappy tone, grabbing my two bags and walked past him in the direction that I noticed him walking towards me in. I was halfway through the small and deserted airport before I heard him laughing and calling for me to slow down. I decided to walk faster, but stopped when I got out the front doors and into the parking lot.

"Hey let me take your bags honey. I'm sorry I was late, my best friend kind of needed me, she's going through some stuff right now." He gave his excuse with a boyish and bashful look on his face while he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I'm Jacob by the way. It's nice to meet you Madison." This time instead of offering me his hand he shot me a grin that kind of lit up the gloomy sky.

"I forgive you even if you're excuse is lacking. Which one is your car?" He pointed to a little cute little red Volkswagon. I let him take my bags and he opened the door for me to get inside the passenger seat. This Jacob character was really chivalrous which meant he probably wanted something from me or Qhala. After putting my bags in the trunk he slid into the driver's seat, which I honestly thought was going to be too small for him, and started driving us through the light drizzle to La Push.

During the ride I asked Jacob talked about La Push and himself and I found out that contrary to his physical appearance, he was only seventeen. I didn't do much talking, but I did try to listen. Its just that he talked so much that I couldn't help but fall asleep an hour before we got there. I woke up when we stopped for gas and Jacob talked some more. He was nice and all, but really starting to get on my nerves. I didn't want to blow up at him and hurt his feelings, but my temper wasn't something that I could really control. Fortunately he turned the radio on and we listened to music until we saw the "Welcome to La Push" sign.

I sat up in my seat and looked around. La Push was small and homey looking. It was raining, but people were still out and a lot of them waved to Jacob and gave me curious looks as we drove by. Pretty soon we pulled up into the driveway of a cute little brown house with white shutters. Jacob stopped the car and flashed his bright smile towards me.

"You ready Madison? I bet Qhala has cooked up a storm waiting for you. Call me over if there are any leftovers, my numbers on the fridge." With those strange parting words he got out of the car and jogged down the street past four or five houses before he ran up to one. "This is my house. Holler when you're done taking your bags in and i'll come get the car!" He yelled down the street before going into his house.

I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, grabbing the keys and my bags out of the trunk. I lugged my stuff up to the front porch and just stood there for a while. I got my shit together and knocked on the door, reminding myself to be nice. After a while the door flew open and a short, tan women was wrapped around me in a hug.

"Little girl, little girl. Come in, you must be starving and tired." The women stepped back after a minute or so of hugging me. "Where are my manners? I'm Qhala Day and its so wonderful to finally meet my only granddaughter."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Please Read and Review. Constructive criticism or nice words are my bread and butter. Thank you for reading even if you don't review, you're appreciated. And a Beta is desperately needed. Also I would like to thank those who favorited and followed, that means so much to me. Anyway on with the show.- Bre**

Jacob wasn't wrong when he assumed that Qhala would cook up a storm. I didn't eat much because my stomach wasn't use to such big meals, but what I could eat was freaking delicious. The women could cook and for that I was grateful. While we ate Qhala asked me basic questions about myself.

Did I play any sports? No, I didn't. Did I leave many friends behind? Just one. Did I like school at all? Only my science and math classes. Did I get good grades? I didn't really get a chance to attend much school, so my grades were lacking. Was I excited to meet the Quileute community? I don't really like new people. Getting to know them and vice versa is always an awkward hassle that I rather avoid. Were there any questions that I would like to ask her? Was there any place that I could put my stuff up?

That lead to the tour of the two bedroom house. I had seen the kitchen and living room upon entering the house so she showed me to the bathroom. It was bigger than the one in Chicago and was a lot cleaner too. Qhala showed me where her room was and the room my mom grew up in, but would now be mine. She told me that I could arrange it any way that I wanted and even paint it if I wanted to. The walls were a soft grey that I didn't expect from Lissa because her favorite color had always been hot pink. I thought the room was just fine and told Qhala that before she left me to put my things up in the empty drawers and closet. It didn't take long because the two bags I had were small.

When I finished my unpacking I returned to the kitchen to find Jacob scarfing down the leftovers. I went to wash the dishes in the sink, but Qhala came out of nowhere and slapped my hands away.

"No need to do that sweetie, I got it." She said.

"I can help, I did all of the cleaning in Chicago so I know what i'm doing," I said with a frown. "Besides I'd feel bad knowing you cooked all this food and had to clean it all up by yourself too."

Jacob laughed and talked around a mouthful of food. "Barking up the wrong tree there Madison. I've been trying to help her with cleaning since she started feeding me." He swallowed the food and gulped half a glass of lemonade. "Lady won't let you put your own dish in the sink if she can get to it fast enough."

I frown again and nod reluctantly. If there was one thing I hated, it was having things done for me. "How about an agreement of compromise Qhala? You can cook and I can clean up after

us. And i'll clean up any mess I make. That way I won't burden you and I won't feel bad about you pampering me."

"That sounds reasonable, but really I don't mind. If it'll make you more comfortable, i'll let you do the cleaning after meals, but not today. Why don't you go out or take a nap? You must be tired or restless from the plane ride. It's Saturday, so maybe we can go to Port Angeles and buy you some things for school tomorrow."

"Oh, can I go?" Asked Jacob. "I really need to buy Emily a good present for her birthday if I want Sam to be nice to me for at least a week. A happy Emily equals a happy Sam."

"I really don't want you spending money on me or anything." I was starting to get frustrated.

"Really don't worry about it and of course you can go Jacob," He did a fist pump and almost hit the ceiling. "You can carry the bags." His facial expression went from happy to bummed in a matter of milliseconds, causing me to laugh uncontrollably. Other peoples pain is freaking funny to me.

"I'm going to bed before I get bullied into anything else." I announced. Jake left with promises to be here bright and early and Qhala wished me a good nights sleep. I retired to my new room and locked the door behind me out of habit.

I pulled Jer Bear out of the duffle bag that he filled up by himself and snuggled with him on the bed. I pulled my journal out and wrote about the past couple of days and that took up an entire page, front and back. After I was done, I returned the thick book back to its hiding place inside of Jer Bear and fell asleep.

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><p>Qhala bought me an alarm clock and I truly hate the person who invented the obnoxious contraption because no one should wake up to the sound of its insistent beeping at 7:30 in the morning on a Monday. Qhala must have heard me throw the stupid device at the wall because she knocked on my door a few minutes later and asked me if I was alright. I nodded knowing she couldn't see me and dragged myself out of bed.<p>

I shuffled to the bathroom with my eyes half closed and brain half asleep. I took a quick shower and decided that because it was my first day I ought to at least brush my hair or something. So I blow dried it until my curls were nonexistent and I could actually manage to run my fingers through the big, red mess. Then I finished up my routine and headed back to my room.

In Chicago most of my wardrobe had consisted of long sleeves and clothes that covered up my bruises, so when I went shopping with Qhala and Jake I didn't think to buy much of anything else. Today I was dressed in a black, form fitting, long sleeved tee and black jeans. I threw on the red combat boots that I picked out yesterday. I could tell that Qhala would have preferred if I chose more colorful items, but I really appreciated that she bought what I liked. After grabbing my book bag I walked into the kitchen and threw two apples into my bag and another one to eat on my way to school. I shouted a bye to Qhala and made my way to La Push High.

The walk was shorter than the one I took in Chicago to get to school. The directions Jacob gave me were easy to follow and the trip was about half the time that I expected it to be which meant I had more time to wander the halls and be stared at. When I got to the school I had finished my apple so I tossed it into the nearest trashcan as I made my way to the office. There I picked up my schedule and was assigned a locker. I headed to my locker which was in a seemingly deserted part of the small school. I had memorized the simple combination on my way to the locker, but had a little trouble getting it to open. After a few tries I got frustrated and started kicking the locker violently. I heard laughter behind me and a girl came over to helped me.

"You most definitely are new so I'll help you out because I like your boots." The girl had shoulder length hair that was raven black with streaks of electric blue. The color complimented her caramel skin nicely. She hit the top left corner of the locker twice and kicked the bottom right corner once before jiggling the handle and opening it. She turned to me with a pretty and triumphant smile. I noticed her nose was pierced and she wore a lot of jewelry. "Let me see your schedule."

I handed her the piece of paper and her face lit up again. "Awesomeness we have the same first period and the same lunch. I'll show you were our first class is and if you don't conform by lunch, we can sit together." She linked our arms together and led me to our Government class which I had no intention of participating in. "I'm Eliza by the way, but you can call my Ellie. I sit next to someone in this class, so we can't sit together." She showed me the available seats and I choose one at random.

Not long after we sat down people started filing into the room, but no one sat next to me. They all gave me curious looks, but didn't really try to talk to me. The teacher came in just before the bell and droned on about politics for a little while. 10 minutes past the late bell a huge and muscular guy walked into the classroom, handed the teacher a sheet of paper, and plopped down next to me in the seat, causing my notebook and pen to fall off of the table. I bit my lip and balled my fist up to prevent myself from lashing out at him because it was an accident and he clearly didn't realize what he did.

"Excuse me. You pushed my stuff off of my desk, would you pick it up for me please." See I can be classy. He looked up at me in surprise as if he didn't know I was there.

"Shit, i'm sorry gorgeous." He picked my stuff up and put it back on my desk. "Who are you? I'm Brady."

I rolled my eyes, but continued looking at the board. Through my peripheral vision I noticed him staring at my face. "Madison. You should be more careful next time, Brady, I could of lost my temper."

He laughed so hard that I had to look at him. He stared into my eyes for a minute before shaking his head. "Damn you would've been real fun." He clicked his tongue and the laid his head on the desk to sleep the rest of the period. I had to keep pinching his side because he snored and that distracted me from pretending like I was listening.

The rest of my morning classes went by smoothly and I thought I'd have a trouble free day until lunch happened and then shit went all downhill.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Read and Review**

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><p>Chemistry was fun. The teacher wasn't as animated as Mrs. Lumer, but the work was more extensive and Mr. Jameson had more of an individual work-study atmosphere going on that resembled a college course. It was like "Here's what you need to do and i'll provide a lecture on the key topics tomorrow." Needless to say, I was excited when I was told to start forming ideas for a midterm project. That class was over too fast.<p>

The rest of my classes were fine. English was terrible as usual. I was the only freshmen in Calculus which wasn't as advanced as my old math class back in Chicago. In my English class I met a really sweet, although shy and at times awkward, girl named Stephanie who thought that my munching on an apple in the middle of class was hilarious. I asked her who she sat with at lunch and she told me she usually sat alone. Then I asked her if she knew Ellie. She didn't, so I figured Ellie wouldn't have a problem with Stephanie sitting with us and if she did she could find herself a new friend. I didn't do selectism.

When lunch came Stephanie and I walked to the lunchroom together and we found Ellie in the lunch line. She was fine with Stephanie and let us cut in front of here despite the complaints from the kids behind us. After grabbing our trays we made our way to Stephanie's usual lunch table which was in the far right corner of the room. She said that people hardly ever occupied the tables in that area and that's why she usually did her reading or studying there. Ellie called Stephanie a bookworm and sat at the head of the table. We sat there bickering and eating like old friends for not even five minutes when this giant stormed over to our table.

"Ladies I hate to interrupt whatever it is you got going on over here at the island of misfit toys, but I need you to move from my table. Like now." Sneered the giant. Ellie rolled her eyes and ignored him, but Stephanie looked really uncomfortable. We weren't close enough to be friends yet, but I liked her and didn't take to kindly to bullies. I guess the ass could smell the fear on her because he honed in on her and would not take his eyes off of her. She blushed and fidgeted nervously before she started packing her stuff up to move. I stared at her with a look of astonishment before I put my hand on top of hers to still her movements.

"Stephanie, don't you usually sit at this table?" I asked. She nodded in response. "Do you like this table?" She shrugged.

"None of those things matter little red, I want this table. So it's mine. I won't ask you to move again." He barked at me.

"Let's just move." Stephanie whispered.

I ignored the ass and asked Stephanie another question. "Do you want to move?" She shook her head no and that was reason enough for me to get rid of the guy.

I strained my neck to look up at him from my sitting position. "No thank you." I said.

"Excuse me?" He asked in surprise.

"We don't really feel like moving, so yeah. Go away."

"It's Madison right? Listen up little girl, I don't take to kindly to being told no and usually the people with the balls to deny me don't live to tell the tale. But I'll let you leave peacefully, that's how nice of a guy I am. Now fucking move Maddy."

I jumped out of my seat and stood in front of him closely. "What the fuck did you just call me?"

He laughed. "Oh, you don't like being called Maddy? To fucking bad. Now you and your friends need to move before I really get pissed off."

I swung at him, but he was a fast mother fucker and he caught my hand. He grabbed me by the chin and pulled my face close to his. His eyes were closed and he was shaking slightly. "I wouldn't suggest you trying to do that again Maddy. You could have really put me in a bad mood and that wouldn't be a pretty sight."

"Fuck you." I kneed him in the balls and his eyes flew open. He still had my face in his hand so when he fell over I fell with him and it was fucking weird.

I swear we fell in slow motion, but not in the romantic way. He stared into my eyes the entire way down and I'm sure his hold on my chin went from forceful to gentle the moment his eyes opened. By the time we hit bottom he was caressing my face in a way that totally creeped me out. And he was fast. Instead of falling on my side like I should have, I landed on top of him and was cradled against his chest. Our eyes never broke the awkward stare so I saw the thousands of unidentifiable emotions that crossed his face. Finally he settled on anger, no not anger. It was rage. He pushed me off of him and I landed hard on the floor next to him. He was shaking violently and was up off of the floor faster than I could roll over.

"This fucking can't be it," He shook harder. "I'm not ready." He was having a seizure or a panic attack or something. He looked like he was in pain and not ten seconds after he said that Brady was at the table looking between me on the floor and the giant hovering over me.

"Bro, I don't know what happened between you and sexy over there, but you need to get out of here Paul." Said Brady. Paul, which I assume is the giants name, literally growled at Brady before running out of the cafeteria. Brady helped me up and then followed after Paul.

I looked around and saw that nobody else in the lunchroom noticed our altercation so I sat down at my table. "What the fuck just happened?"

Ellie laughed loudly. "You just had a run in with Paul Lahote, the rez's resident asshole. Don't worry you only wasted three minutes of your life talking to him. The knee to the groin was a nice touch."

"Three minutes?" I asked in shock. I felt like I was talking to him for at least twenty minutes.

"Yeah," Said Stephanie. "Remind me not to call you Maddy."

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><p>"Hey Firetop!" Jacob yelled from across the room before quickly making his way over to me. I had one class with him, which was more than I was expecting because he was two years ahead of me in school. I rolled my eyes at his originality and gave him a shy wave. Jacob was the first guy that I met who I was attracted to and I honestly didn't know what to do with that.<p>

The coach announced that because we had an even number of people in the class (thanks to yours truly) we needed to split up into teams of two. Gym was my favorite elective back in Chicago because it was a great way to get rid of my pent up frustration in a physical way so I was looking forward to friendly competition. Jacob was waved over by another tall guy and went to the other side of the gym. It wasn't long before a different guy was at my side asking to be my partner. I accepted his invitation and promised to meet him by the bleachers before I went to go change into the clothes Coach provided me with.

When I was all dressed up in my La Push High gym uniform I went back onto the court and sat down to wait for Tyler, my gym partner. Jacob made his way over, but stopped a few feet away.

"What happened?" He asked, sounding sad and angry at the same time. I tilted my head in confusion before I realized that his eyes were roaming my body in a nonsexual way. I looked down and noticed all of the bruises that had not left my skin yet. My eyes widened in surprise which confused Jacob. I had forgotten about all the negative parts of Chicago that I left behind.

"Nothing, I'm a little clumsy is all. Don't worry about it." The lie was easy to tell because it was one I told often. "Haven't you heard the rumors? We gingers tend to bruise easy."

Jacob could tell that I was lying, but didn't push for the truth. This guy was getting better and better by the minute. He nodded his head and left when Coach called for us to "squad up". Tyler met me by the bleachers just in time for coach to tell us to pick another team to play against. Tyler noticed by bruises too, but unlike Jacob, he didn't say anything. He just gave me a shy smile and grabbed my hand to lead me to his friends.

We played Volleyball and we made a pretty good team. Shit was sweet other than the weird looks I kept getting from Jacob across the gym. Tyler and I won our match with little to no casualties (I may have spiked the ball too hard one time and ended up hitting his friend in the head) and to celebrate he offered to give me a ride home.

I changed quickly after gym, which was my last class of the day and Tyler walked me to my locker and then his car. He held my books and opened the door for me, which made me a bit suspicious about his intentions. But he stayed true to his word and dropped me off in front of Qhala's house with no problems. Other than that jerk Paul, I could say that I had a great first day.

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><p><strong>AN: The last part of the chapter may seem insignificant, but keep an eye on Tyler. He plays a major roll in the story.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you fari30 for reviewing and everyone else for the favorites and follows. Remember you guys to read and review. I know this chapter is up quick, but its spring break at my high school and it still feels like winter, so I didn't have anything better to do at 12 am on a Tuesday morning. **

The rest of the week was strange. Every day I would meet a new giant. Jacob introduced most of them to me, but they all said they were friends of Paul and they apologized for his undesirable behavior. Surprisingly I didn't see Paul, but I counted that as a blessing. I had gotten close with Stephanie and Ellie and we had made plans to crash a bonfire on Friday night.

When Friday came around Ellie came to Qhala's to pick me up and we headed to Stephanie's house. Stephanie lived on the beach so Ellie parked her car there and we walked the rest of the way. When we got to the beach it was late and the fire was easy to see. There were kids everywhere and I noticed a few of them who must have been from Forks because they didn't look Quileute. Stephanie and I were a little on the shy side when it came to meeting people, but Ellie wasn't so she dragged us around while she socialized with freshmen and upperclassmen alike. Eventually me and Stephanie managed to detach ourselves from Ellie and sat on the logs surrounding the fire. Farther down the beach I noticed a smaller group huddled around a cozier fire.

"Who's that?" I asked Stephanie gesturing towards the other side of the beach.

She followed my line of sight and answered quietly. "That's La Push's elite." I gave her a questioning look and she giggled at my confusion. "They're what La Push deems as 'blue bloods'. The group of boys Jacob Black had been introducing you to this week. They have the purest Quileute blood on the reservation. Most of the girls are just girlfriends though. Except for Leah Clearwater, but she graduated a while ago. The council gives them special treatment, but the council is full of a bunch of their parents anyway."

"That's… interesting. Is Jacob over there?" I asked trying to be discreet. Again Stephanie giggled and nodded at me. "Let's walk over there and talk to him- them. I mean let's talk to them." Stephanie full out laughed this time before texting Ellie who was currently sucking face with a guy from school. After she told Ellie where we were in case she needed us, we made our way to the other side of the beach.

The first person to notice us was Seth who I had met yesterday. He waved at us and made catcalls towards Stephanie before grabbing her by the waist and running off with her. I rolled my eyes and made my way towards Jacob who was unfortunately sitting with Paul.

"Hey Jacob," I said quietly, completely ignoring Paul. Jacob smiled his thousand watt smile at me and patted the empty seat between him and Paul.

"You can call me Jake if you want. People usually only call me Jacob when their particularly upset with me." He told me as I sat down "So what's up with you Fire Engine?"

I rolled my eyes again. "You know none of the names you call me are original?"

He laughed his deep, throaty laugh and rubbed the top of my head with his big hand, messing up my hair. "Yeah, but they are new to me. I've never known a redhead, so I'm enjoying trying out all my new nicknames. I like when you straighten your hair like that by the way. It's really pretty."

I tried not to, but it was impossible not to smile at his compliment. Next to me Paul scoffed. I stiffened and turned my attention towards him. He was sitting in the sand and using the log as a back rest instead of sitting on it like Jake and I. His long legs stretched out far and I noticed his feet were bare. From my position I could look at his face properly and I hated to admit that he was handsome, even more so than Jake. He wasn't as tall as Jacob, or as buff as Quil who I met Wednesday, but he was kind of perfect physically. His eyes were a dark and deep brown, his nose straight, jaw strong, eyelashes full, cheeks high, and lips plump. It was really too bad that his personality wasn't as admirable as his features.

"Do you have a problem?" I asked him harshly.

He snorted this time and looked up at me. "Yeah, I kind of do. If I wanted to see you moon over Jacob, I would have asked for it."

"I'm not _mooning _over anyone and even if I was, it's none of your concern."

"Like hell it's not!" He shouted. Again he started shaking slightly and I jumped up off of the log, he followed my movements.

"Don't yell at me asshole!" I poked him hard in the chest, which was bare by the way, to express my animosity. "It's not my fault you have a stick shoved so far up your ass that it's poking your brain." I balled my hands into fist waiting for him to get pissed enough to hit me. I had been in fights with grown men before, but none of them were as beefy as Paul.

"Why the fuck do you feel the need to piss me off so much? Aren't you supposed to help me control my anger?" He asked frustrated.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about psycho, but you better back the fuck up off of me before I blow my top." I warned him. He laughed like a maniac at that and if there was one thing I hated it was being laughed at.

He stepped closer so that our chests were touching. "What are you going to do _Maddy_? Huh, you gonna knee me again, because that was a cheap fucking shot."

This time he was more focused on my knee and expecting me to hit him with my right hand so he didn't see it coming when I slapped his cheek with my left hand. His face was hard and my hand hurt after, but the left side of his face was red so I felt accomplished. He snarled at me like a wild fucking animal before a man I hadn't met yet was standing behind Paul, telling him to back up. Unfamiliar arms grabbed me by the waist and pulled me away from Paul.

I kicked and screamed and lashed out before the person put me down a few yards away from where I was before. After I was put down I turned around, ready to rip my capture a new one, before I saw it was Brady.

"You ok hot stuff?" He asked with an amused look on his face.

"No. What the hell is his problem? I didn't even say anything to him at first and he still managed to piss me off." I shook my head in confusion. "The boy was put here to be my hell on earth I'm sure of it."

Brady laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I'm pretty sure he feels the same way, but I wouldn't know. It's not like I'm in the guy's head or anything." He said with a smirk.

"You're a weirdo Brady." I told him. I looked around the beach and saw Ellie flirting with Seth while Seth flirted with Stephanie. In the other direction I saw Paul, Jake and two strangers talking. Jake was waving his arms around and Paul just stood there with his hands crossed against his chest. Suddenly Paul and one of the strangers walked towards me and Brady. Brady quickly removed his arm from around me when Paul stopped in front of us and glared at it.

"Brady, follow me," Commanded the stranger.

"Yes sir, Sam sir," Responded Brady with a mocking salute. Paul and I were left alone and I felt comfortable in the awkward silence, but I could tell he had something he wanted to say.

"Walk with me," He said. I noticed it wasn't a question, but I followed him down to the edge of the water out of curiosity. When he was walked far enough for the water to cover half of his calf he stopped and stood there. I wasn't the most patient person so after a while I grew weary and rolled my jeans up to follow him into the water. We stood and looked up at the moon for a moment before I noticed that his attention was turned in my direction. I looked at him and we stared at each other for I don't know how long. It seemed like he was memorizing my face, cataloging every detail, right down to each individual freckle. Eventually he reached over and touched my hair. I froze, slightly uncomfortable with the physical contact. He sighed in defeat and moved away from me.

"I'm sorry for being so temperamental, I'm a volatile person by nature, but that's no excuse to talk to you the way I do." His voice was coarse, but I could tell he was sincere and I was somewhat surprised. '

"Oh." I said. He could tell that I didn't know what to say so he allowed me a minute to process. "Thank you, I'm sorry I responded so violently."

He laughed a little and shrugged his shoulder. "It's fine, refreshing even. Most people, other than the ones I hang out with, usually cower when my temper rears its ugly head. I'm not suggesting you knee me again, but a slap every now and then can be useful I'm sure." He was smiling and it was magnificent. I had thought Jacob's smile was as good as it got, but Paul's smile was this attractive half smirk half grin that made my heart flutter. If Jake's smile was worth a million bucks, Paul's was priceless.

I nodded in response, not knowing what to do with the warm feeling that spread through me at the sight of his smile. He laughed like he could hear the sound of my heart pounding and this time his grin was a cocky and crooked smirk.

"By the way," He said. "Your hair is prettier when you leave it all curly. That's the way it's supposed to be." With that compliment Paul jogged out of the water and towards the woods.

"See you at school on Monday!" He called from the tree line before disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

I can honestly say that my first bonfire was a better experience than any of my other firsts.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I don't own Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart and I don't own the mentioned characters of J.K.R's Harry Potter books. Threw that in there for kicks, but don't worry it's just a reference. This isn't a crossover. Again I want to urge you guys to review. Tell me what I'm doing right, tell me what I'm doing wrong, just tell me something XD Thanks for the follows and favorites. You're appreciated. -Bre**

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><p>I was furious. No, it was more than fury. I was outraged and Qhala wasn't helping.<p>

The more time I spent with Qhala the more upset I got with my mother. At first I only blamed Lissa for a portion of the bad things that happened to me, but every day my disdain for her grew into hatred. Qhala was loving and attentive which I found both sweet and annoying at times, but annoying in the way that teens were supposed to find parents when they hovered. Lissa was terrible and I never wanted to see her again.

The more I thought about Lissa the more temperamental I got. I often started screaming matches with Paul because he gave as good as he got and sometimes managed to give better. He'd always storm off shaking after our arguments and the fact that I could piss him off gave me some strange satisfaction. I was lashing out on strangers and picking fights with people that I knew would fight back. More often than not I would come back to Qhala's place with a scratch or scar that made her worry more than she needed to. I knew I was causing her stress so when she asked me to attend regular sessions with the school counselor I agreed to relieve her of her anxiety.

The first meeting was awkward at best. To start I didn't know there was going to be a meeting, but Qhala called up to the school and they agreed to the arrangement easily. Apparently the school knew what I had been through and was looking to help. I thought it was bull that they knew my business without asking my permission first, but I didn't say anything for Qhala's sake.

At the end of my third class a boy who looked like a senior came to the room before the bell rang and told my teacher that I was needed in the office. At first I thought I was in trouble for arguing with an idiot that almost ran me over earlier today, but I was reassured by the guy. When I got there I was directed to the counselor's office. She was pretty and looked way too young to work in a school, but she also seemed like the no nonsense type.

"Close the door please." She asked politely. I did what was requested of me before I plopped down in one of the chairs across from her desk. When I was comfortable enough to stop fidgeting she started speaking again. "Hello Madison. My name is Ms. Clearwater. I wanted-"

"Wait Clearwater like Seth Clearwater, the freshmen?" I interrupted.

She laughed. "Exactly like that, he's my younger brother. I don't want you to worry though. What happens between us when that door closes stays between us, even the walls are soundproof. I mean unless you're a threat to someone's or your own safety, then I'm required to report it to the principal. So let's hope that isn't the case. Let's talk about you. How have you been dealing with the move from Illinois?"

"Fine, the flight was fine. I was a little uncomfortable on the plane, but that's about it. Qhala's nice so there are no problems there." I tried to keep my answers generic so she would dismiss me as an untroubled child.

"So where is the problem?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you said the problem wasn't Qhala. So I'm asking where the problem is."

"Oh. There isn't a problem. Everything is awesome here." I said.

"Look Madison, Qhala is like a second mom to me and we're very close so when she called in and asked me to council her granddaughter I couldn't deny her. I really want to help you work through these issues. Sometimes just talking about what happened can really help. It doesn't have to be with me or Qhala, it can be with a friend or you could call this hotline if you want to talk to a stranger." She ripped off a piece of paper from the pad on her desk and scribbled a number 1-800 number down before handing it to me.

"Thanks." I looked at the number and folded it up before putting it in my pocket.

"So we've got a half an hour. I hope you don't mind I pulled you out during your Calculus class. Your grades are best in math and science and after talking to your teachers Mr. D said you can spare thirty minutes of his class."

"Its fine that class bores me anyway," I reassured her. She nodded in response and then asked me about Chicago. I wasn't as comfortable talking to her about the situation as I was with the social worker. So I told her about my best friend Shay, who I had neglected for the three weeks that I've been in La Push. The more I talked about her and our less than stellar adventures I realized that I missed her annoying presence and promised myself that I'd call her when I got to Qhala's.

At the end of the session Ms. Clearwater (it felt strange to call her that) wrote me a pass to Calculus and told me we'd be meeting at the same time, on the same day once a week. I thanked her for her time and scribbled a note on my hand reminding me to call Shay.

When I got home Qhala wasn't there so I didn't bother taking the wireless phone up to my room. I dialed up Shay's familiar number and after a few rings she picked up.

"You've got Harry's Horny Hoes Hotline. You're lucky enough to be speaking with Luna LovesGood, how can I hex you today?" She asked in a terrible British accent.

"You can start by being less disturbing ya weirdo." I answered in a fit of giggles.

"Well this can't possibly be my ex best friend Madison Monroe Montgomery? She died in a plane crash three weeks ago. It's the only explanation for her not calling me in all that time. No it cannot be, _my _Madison would have called. Who is this impersonating poor, poor, late Madison?"

"I see you haven't gotten less dramatic in the time that we've been parted," I said with an eye roll that she couldn't see. "I am sorry I haven't called, though. I've been distracted with learning this new place."

"I'll forgive you if you give me the name, address and social security number of whatever lucky girl you've replaced me with."

"If that was your less-than-subtle way of asking me if I've made new friends then the answer is yes. Only two girls and they haven't replaced you, but this boy in my Government class is cutting it pretty close." I teased her.

"You are allowed to have boy best friends, because they can't replace girl best friends. Unless they're gay I guess and then it depends on the kind of gay. He isn't like Project Runway gay is he?"

"Umm… I don't know what Project Runway gay means, but no. I'm pretty sure he's straight. What's going on with you?" I changed the subject before it turned into an hour long lecture on what was deemed as an acceptable boy best friend.

"Nothing much," She answered. "I transferred schools. I'm actually at an all-girls boarding school. My dad got remarried to some stuck up floozy that he met at the business trip he went on before you left. She didn't like me and I didn't like her and there wasn't anything for me at that school besides you anyway so I didn't protest when she recommended I be sent away. I figured they'll be divorced in six months or maybe a year, so you know. I'm not sweating it. How's grandma?" She asked.

"Oh she's awesome. She bought me new clothes and shoes and school supplies. She cooks every night and she's so sweet about me staying here. I'm just waiting for it all to go to hell."

"Well enjoy it while it lasts. You've got four more years before you can technically be fully responsible for yourself. If you start getting into trouble or something you can always hide under my queen sized bed, I'm sure you can stow away for a while before you get discovered from your loud ass snoring."

"I don't snore." I said out of habit. According to Shay I snored like a bear during the hibernation season.

"Sure ya don't sweetie," I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "It's din-din time at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart so I got to go. Is this Grammy's number?" I told her it was. "I'll call you soon since you obviously can't be trusted with the simple task of dialing ten numbers. Later loser, love you lots."

"Love you too crazy person." I hung up the phone and worked on my homework after grabbing a snack from the kitchen. It felt good to talk to Shay and it relieved me of some of the anger I had because she reminded me that it wasn't all bad in Chicago. She was a positive and I didn't have to give her up, but that didn't mean I wasn't still pissed when I went to bed that night.

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><p>I was woken up by the sound of a single wolf, but that didn't startle me. What startled me was when more howls joined in on the chorus and rang through the sleeping reservation of La Push. Playing it by ear I assumed that there were at least five of them out there. And they sounded so <em>close<em>. I swear I could feel the little house shake from the vibrations of the wails coming from the pack.

I felt a small pull leading me out of my room and towards the kitchen and out the back door. I was barefoot in thin, short shorts and a cami so it was needless to say that I should have felt cold, but oddly I didn't. My feet were leading me through the forest on their own accord and for a moment I forgot about the wolves. I was quickly reminded of their presence when I stumbled across an injured one in a clearing. My feet planted themselves to the ground for a moment before taking off and running towards the silver-grey wolf that wasn't too far from me. It was lying on its side looking all vulnerable and defeated.

When I was only a few foot steps away I realized that I was barefoot. In my pajamas. In the middle of the night. In the forest. With a large bear sized wolf that could easily devour me, even with its injury and it was looking straight at me. I'm sure it could smell my fear because it made a strange mewling sound too similar to a cat. It was probably from hunger, who knew how long it had been out here.

When I was done mentally mulling over the possible escape routes I realized that I was already on my knees in front of the wolf. What the fuck was up with my body and it doing shit without asking me or my brain first?

"Easy there… girl?" I asked hesitantly not at all expecting the quiet growl I got from the wolf. "Ok, boy then?" He whined in what I assumed was agreement.

"Ok boy, it looks like your leg is broken. My mom dated a vet once and he showed me something pretty cool about resetting bones after he broke one of mine." The wolf growled menacingly and I shivered with fright. In response to my shiver, or at least I think it was in response to me, the wolf settled down and seemed content with baring his fangs.

"I'm going to touch your leg ok?" I didn't wait for him to respond, because clearly that would be crazy, and ran two fingers along his leg, trying to feel how clean the break was. I was as gentle as possible and luckily wolf appreciated that. "It's a pretty clean break. What were you doing that broke it?" I asked.

I rubbed his stomach with the palm of my hand, scratching every now and then. His big tongue lolled out of his mouth and landed on the grass underneath him. His tail started to wag and without a warning I realigned the broken bone in his leg. He howled in surprise and looked at me in a way that almost seemed accusatory. "It's ok guy. At least you'll be able to walk better when this heals up than you would have if you had just left it to heal the way it was going to."

I swear he rolled his eyes.

"You're a pretty smart wolf, but a smart ass too." I said. I tore of the bottom half of my shirt so it was now a crop top. I took the strip of cloth and wrapped it around his leg to keep the bone in place while it healed. "I don't know if you're colorblind or not, or if wolves even care about the colors. Either way I'm sorry about it being pink and I hope the other boy wolves don't give you slack if you're one of the wolves in the pack."

The wolf let out a series of short barks that sounded something like a laugh.

"I'm not a huge fan of pink either, but Qhala loves it and bought these pajamas because she doesn't think I dress girly enough. Personally I think black is a timeless color, but ya know…"

I stayed and talked to wolf until I noticed the sun was starting to rise, which meant I had to get ready for school. I gave wolf a final once over and would have been sure that his bone was healed if that was possible. Before I left I scratched wolf behind his ear liked he liked and kissed his wet nose before running back in the direction of Qhala's house. After a while I managed to find my way back home and into my room before Qhala was up.

Wolf was… interesting and I wondered if I'd ever see him again.

**A/N: Was that a long chapter? I had those two scenes that I thought were to short for their own chapters so I just put them together. Remember to review. -Bre**


	8. Chapter 8

The longer I stayed with Qhala the more upset I got with Lissa.

I know I'm a broken record, but I had fallen into the habit of blaming her for nothing when I was in Chicago. In fact I viewed her as a child incapable of looking out for herself so it was difficult to see her portraying a paternal role. With that being said, it was a strange experience for me when I started to compare her to Qhala.

When Qhala cooked up a spectacular meal I couldn't help but think about how Lissa never cooked up anything for me but trouble. And when Qhala hauled herself up to my school to beg my principal not to suspend me, I couldn't help but remember the times when Lissa would curse my concerned teachers out until they stopped calling the phone all together. The more I thought about it the more upset I got with how things were going back in Chicago. I started to realize that I didn't have to endure anything and that Lissa, as a parent, had a duty to provide for me and protect me, or at the very least find someone who could. Needless to say my anger translated into my behaviour, which explains Qhala's frequent visits to my school.

Lately I've been getting into a little trouble with a few kids at my school. I'll be the first to admit that I start most of or more realistically, all of the fights that I've been apart of. But I'll also admit that none of it was my fault. I can't help it if people don't watch where they're going or can't shut up in the school library. Honestly I was just relieving my anger in the best way I knew, but when I explained that to the principal he just didn't get it.

As a last ditch effort, Qhala volunteered me to attend an anger management group for teens that Mrs. Clearwater conducted. The principal ate that shit up and signed me up for the group faster then I could say no thank you. The only reason I didn't flip out was the fact that Qhala looked at me with so much hope and compassion in her eyes that I couldn't possibly deny her. Besides the class was only one day out of the week. At the time I figured that the group wouldn't have much of an influence on any part of my life, but boy was I wrong.

On Tuesday nights I found myself sitting on the gym floor, making a circle with eight other kids and Mrs. Clearwater. At first I was worried that I wouldn't know anybody there, but surprisingly Tyler from my gym class was there. He acknowledged my presence when I introduced myself to the group, but other than that he ignored me for the rest of the session. His indifference towards me was both surprising and perplexing after he was so nice to me in gym the one time we got to work together. I spent most of the session wondering if he had forgotten who I was so quickly. I wasn't used to boys ignoring or forgetting me. Unfortunately I was interrupted from my stewing a few times by the counselor talking.

"Madison in this circle we are all equal and important. For that reason you can call me Leah here. All of the group members have introduced themselves to you already..." Leah droned on some more about the group dynamic, but I was to busy starring at her. She was pretty with traditional Native features. I'd kill for her copper complexion and slick, black hair. She seemed much to young to be a school counselor. Her toned body suggested that she was an Olympic athlete or a the very least a personnel trainer or fitness instructor. I'm sure the boys had trouble concentrating on whatever she said because I was having my own difficulties.

Before I knew it, it was nine o'clock and time to go. I wasn't looking forward to walking back in the dark alone with my new found discovery of the La Push wolves. I knew Wolf was chill, but the rest of them could be vicious. Before I could be to put out, Tyler surprised me by giving me what can only be decribed as a come hither smile from across the small parking lot. I shuffled over to him cautiously. By the time I got there his smile was more friendly and soft.

"Wanna hang out?" He asked. I stared at him through suspicious eyes. What kind of game was he playing?

"I don't know, are you going to ignore me most of the night?" I said with my left eyebrow arched and my hand on my hip. He laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulder before he led me to the passenger side of his car. He opened the door and smiled at me until I got in the car. Then he jogged around to the other side. After putting on his seatbelt he pulled me closer to him in the car so he could place his arm around me. He started the car and waved at Mrs. Clearwater who was watching us from the gym entrance of the school. She frowned at us and waved back before going into the school. Tyler road out of the parking lot and onto the dark La Push streets.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I was thinking we could grab a drink and just hang out at the beach or something. It's kinda late for anything else on the Rez. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your grandma so we won't go far."

"I don't drink." I said.

"That's alright sweetie, I won't make you." He stopped the car at a poorly lit gas station in Forks. "You wanna come in?"

I shook my head. "Ok you want anything?"

"Just some bubble gum and water." I answered.

He nodded his head and jogged into the store. While he was in I played with the radio until I found a suitable station. As soon as I decided on something Tyler made his way back to the car. I watched him as he approached and admired his attractiveness. He had brown hair instead of the usual Quileute black. His eyes were dark, but playful and full of mischief unlike Paul who's were chocolate orbs filled with anger or mystery. Tyler's jaw wasn't as defined as Paul's, but it was still a nice jaw. He wasn't short, in fact I guessed him to be about 5'11. He wasn't as muscular as Paul, but there was definitely a hardness to his body that came from muscle. I'd give Tyler a seven out of ten in the looks department.

After my analysis of his physical appearance Tyler slid into the car and handed me the things I asked for. I thanked him and we drove to the beach. He parked his car in the deserted parking lot, but didn't turn it off. Instead he turned the music up and the headlights off. Then he climbed out of his window onto the roof of the car. I followed his lead, being careful not to dent anything, and say next to him. We looked up at the stars in silence while he drank his beer and I chewed my gum.

"Where you from Madison?"

"Chicago." I answered. He nodded and wrapped his arm around me again. He started singing along with the radio and it was terrible, but cute at the same time so I sung with him.

"How'd you get that beer? You aren't 21." I asked.

"Naw I'm 17, I've got a fake ID. And the guy that works there is so high most nights he doesn't know an Indian from a Native, so it's easy to buy there."

"Ha, that's kind of funny." I said with a chuckle. I blew a particularly large bubble with my gum. Tyler popped it and there was gum all over my face. I pouted and he laughed loudly.

"I'm sorry honey." He said in between gasps of laughter. "You're just so damn cute." He hopped off of the car.

"Come on sugar, I gotta get you home. It's pretty late." He announced as I yawned. I nodded and slid into the car after removing myself from the roof. He drove me to Qhala's and walked me to the door. I gave him a sleepy smile and patted his chest in an awkward parting gesture. He laughed quietly at me and leaned in to kiss my cheek.

"I've got me an interesting girl. Good night Madison."

"Night." I replied. Then I grabbed my key out my pocket and let myself in. I was so tired I choose to sleep in my underwear so I wouldn't have to put sleepwear on. Right before I drifted off to sleep I saw the image of an angry Paul.

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><p>I was having one of those weird dreams where you know it's a dream, but you're powerless to changing anything or waking up at will. The weirdest part to the dream was that fact that I didn't feel like myself. I would call it an out of body experience, but that wasn't quite right. The pull I felt last night was there, but so much stronger. It was tugging at me, trying to lead me towards something, but I easily ignored it and focused on what I was doing.<p>

I was running, but it felt more like flying with how unbelievably fast I was going. At first everything around me was a motion filled blur, but after concentrating I could tell that I was in the forest whipping past trees. I could see everything, the ants on the forest floor, the 13 different shades of green in a single leaf, the small amount of light breaking through the treetops. I could see everything but what I wanted to see.

I felt a weird sense of desperation falling over me and for the first time I noticed that I wasn't just running. I was chasing something or being chased. I heard light and airy footsteps ahead of me and heavy, thunderous footfalls behind me. Surprisingly the sound of the heavy steps behind me comforted me while the light steps ahead sent a ripple of anger and frustration through me. I was furious and feed up. But with who or what, I had no idea.

A grey blur flew past me and I recognized it to be a wolf. Maybe I was being chased by the wolves? I quickly dismissed that thought when the grey wolf moved even faster. I don't know how, but from her body language I could tell that she was as desperate as I was to end this. But what was I ending? Looking down for a second I noticed my own grey fur, a darker color than my female counterpart. Wait, why did I have fur? When I looked back up I saw the back of a red headed woman standing barefoot in the middle of the woods. Was I going to hurt her?

At the sight of her I moved faster and fiercer. She was going to die and try as I might, I couldn't stop my feet or open my mouth to warn her. When my mouth did finally open it was in an attempt to snap my sharp and murderous teeth at her. Not teeth, canines. I was a wolf and I wanted her dead. Before I could lock my jaws into her skin she was gone. I could hear her, but not see her. The sounds of her familiar giggle sent me through a rage that I couldn't control. I let out a loud and furious growl. The bitch had gotten away again leaving only her sickly sweet scent behind.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Shout out to Lessthan3 who reviewed the last chapter. Thank you so much for the sweet and encouraging review. Usually I reply in a private or direct message, but you replied as a guest so I figured I share my thanks here. Sorry for the super late chapter. Go ahead throw tomatoes. I love you for sticking with me though. Kisses for everyone.**

**Remember guys. reviews make Wolf's tail wag. ;)**

**-Bre**

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><p>I woke up to the sound of Qhala knocking lightly on my bedroom door. After I let her know that I was awake she slowly opened the door and peeked inside.<p>

"There's a boy waiting for you," She said with a small smile. "He's cute too."

I groaned and buried my head under my pillow in mock embarrassment. She giggled and closed the door behind her. I stayed underneath my pillow until Qhala's words sunk in. She had said a boy was waiting for me, and a cute one at that. I instantly thought of Paul who apparently was the last thing on my mind at night and the first thing in the morning.

I scrambled out of bed and shuffled my way to the bathroom after grabbing my towel and other "bathroom items". I checked the clock and saw that I had plenty of time to get ready and actually eat something hot before I left my room so I took my time in the shower and washed my hair. I decided to let it air dry after a few quick strokes with my brush. Letting it dry naturally would allow my hair to form those pesky, wild curls that Paul told me he liked.

When I was done in the bathroom I ran to my bedroom in my towel to avoid being seen by my visitor. After I was in the safety on my bedroom I stuck my head out the window to get a feel on the weather. The clear sky told me there would be no rain and the air felt nice and warm so I opted to wear a skirt. I had been living with Qhala long enough that almost all of my bruises were gone, but I still had scarring on my legs that made me a little self conscience on a bad day. I choose the cute metallic blue motel flute faux leather skirt that Ellie picked out for me when she forced Stephanie and I to a mall in Port Angeles. I didn't know what all those words meant when put together, but I knew that it was a cute skirt. I paired that with black fishnet stockings and black combat boots. I threw on a black tank top and pulled my hair up in a messy ponytail until it finished drying. After grabbing my black messenger bag that was now covered in pins and buttons I made my way to the kitchen.

I could smell whatever it was that Qhala was cooking up and it made my tummy rumble in anticipation. I stepped into the kitchen and a surprised, but pleasant smile spread crossed my face.

"Hey Tyler," I said while taking a seat at the table. "What're'ya doing here so early?"

"I came to pick you up for school, but I wanted some time to take you to the diner or something, but Qhala insisted on cooking." He sat in his chair with an easy smile and relaxed demeanor. There was that mischievous twinkle in his eye that suggested he was up to no good, but I didn't see any trouble he could possibly get into in Qhala's kitchen.

"Oh," I said with a pleased smile. Qhala sat plates of French toast in front of us and I thanked her before digging in.

"No problem honey, you know it's my pleasure taking care of people. Especially my own granddaughter and her... friend." She said with an all to suggestive wiggling of her eyebrows.

Tyler laughed and thanked Qhala for his meal as well. She, knowing everyone who ever stepped foot on the rez, asked about his brother. He responded politely although I could see it was a hard subject for him.

"He comes home pretty soon ma'am, but I doubt he'll come here when he does. He just doesn't want to deal with that pressure, you know?" Qhala nodded her head in agreement and I pretended like I wasn't totally lost.

"Well it looks like it's time to go," I said trying to dispel the awkwardness that probably didn't exist to anyone else, but me. "I'm sorry Qhala for leaving the dishes. I'll do laundry tomorrow to make up for it."

She shooed me off to school and told me not to fret. Tyler laughed and told her that he'd make sure I didn't obsess. It was partially true because by the time my first class started the only thing I was obsessing about was all the stares. Apparently getting driven to school by Tyler meant something at La Push High. He walked me to my first class and I could practically feel someone burning a hole in my hand that was joined with Tyler's.

I turned around and saw Brady pouting and stewing at the same time. I raised my eyebrow at him. He in turn looked in my eyes, then back at my hand, then back at my eyes before raising his own eyebrow at me. I bit my lip and shrugged. He wagged his finger at me in a playful way before shaking his head and stomping into the classroom. I shook my head and smiled at his retreating figure.

"What was that about?" Asked Tyler.

I chuckled and shrugged my left shoulder. "I'm not exactly sure, but Brady is a weirdo and it's best to just go along with whatever it is he's up to." The bell rang and I waved to Tyler before slipping into the classroom.

"So you guys are a thing?" Brady inquired after I was settled in my seat next to him. I shook my head in response.

"No," I said. "Well maybe? We're just hanging out. He's a cool guy I guess. We're friends I think. Why?"

Brady shrugged. "Just wondering. I _know_ we're friends and friends can be curious , right?"

"Yeah." I answered with an easy smile. Through the rest of the class we teased and picked at each other like siblings. By the time the dismissal bell rang my scalp was sore from all the hair tugging I endured. I didn't have much time to contemplate on how to get back at Brady because I was practically tackled by Ellie.

"What in the _world_ were you doing with Tyler Anderson?" She asked as we walked towards our respective classes which were in the same general direction. Before I could answer she was already asking her next question. "Did you go out with him yesterday, because I called last night and Mrs. Day said you weren't there? Did you guys kiss-"

"Hey honey bunnies? What's the word?" Interrupted Stephanie who wrapped her arms around both of our shoulders.

"Madison had a date with Tyler Anderson last night."

"I did not!" I shouted as the late bell rang. "I'll see you guys at lunch alright?"

I basically sprinted into my next class to avoid any further attention. Fortunately I didn't know anybody in this class so I was allowed to sit in peace for the first time today. The rest of my morning classes went by to quickly, but Stephanie allowed me to get through English without bombarding me with questions.

We walked to lunch together and met Ellie in the line as usual. Before we could get to our table I was waved over to another one by Tyler. I nodded towards my girls and shook my head apologetically. His eyes narrowed as he frowned and waved me over again.

"Go ahead." Whispered Stephanie as if my friendship with Tyler was a secret.

"Yeah, but believe that there will be a conference call tonight at 10:30. Don't be late." Added Ellie, before she and Stephanie skipped off to our table.

I walked over to Tyler and he pulled out a chair for me next to him. He had a huge smile on his face when I settled down in the seat. He threw his arm around my shoulder and introduced me to the people at his table. While he spoke I tried to pay attention, but the table across from Tyler's kept distracting me.

The "blue bloods" and their girlfriends were all sitting together at the round table adjacent to my chair speaking and laughing loudly. Everyone there seemed so carefree, which I realized wasn't a look I saw them wear often. They all were so excitable that I almost didn't notice Paul sitting in the seat directly across from mine. After I recognized his presence I didn't know how it ever escaped my notice.

He was looking into my eyes and that undeniable pull I feel at night that usually leads me to the forest was alive and damn near tangible. His features were hard and his face lacking expression, but his eyes... His eyes were on fire with a plethora of emotions. They flashed from rage to understanding to a mixture of hurt and angst. Finally they settled on defeat before he lowered his eyes completely. I didn't know what I did, but I was certain that I was the cause of the emotional rollercoaster that Paul was most likely experiencing. Another thing I knew was that I didn't like it at all, but for now there was nothing I could do about it.

* * *

><p>"Come on Madison, you can talk to Ellie and Stephanie at any time. I really want to hang out with you and I know for a fact they won't mind."<p>

"I don't know Tyler, Stephanie is really sen-."

"Aren't they only calling to drill you about last night?" He asked. And I nodded in response. "Well when you talk to them tomorrow you'll have more to say because really we didn't even DO anything last night. I want you to meet some important people."

I chewed on my lip and contemplated my options. "I don't think it's a good idea to ditch my frien-"

Tyler grabbed me by the shoulders and yanked me close to him until our foreheads were touching. Then he placed a hand on each one of my cheeks and looked into my eyes. "Babe, I'm telling you it's fine. Don't worry about it, they won't care. I just wanna show my girlfriend off to my friends. Can we do that?"

My head swam. Tyler was so close and his hands were so big cradling my face. I was dazzled and could only breathe out the word, "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah, girlfriend. You're mine honey. All mines." He said with a cocky grin. I nodded my head in agreement and he grabbed my books and bag before throwing his arm around my shoulder. He lead me to his car and opened the door for me then tossed my things into the backseat.

"I called Qhala and she said it's fine to keep you out until 11:00, but to keep in mind that it's a school night." I nodded my head thinking he must have dazzled Qhala too because 11:00 was pretty late for her. Tyler drove us out to a house that was so secluded I'm sure I would've never known about it without him. It was deep in the forest and a beautiful dark blue color that I knew Ellie would appreciate. From exterior appearance I could see no feminine aspects of the house and I rightly assumed that no woman lived there.

Tyler pulled over next to a bunch of cars and jumped out to open the door for me. He grabbed my hand and walked me towards the front door of the little blue house. He didn't bother to knock and just opened the front door. Music that I didn't notice was playing was loud and beating at my eardrums. There was a distinct smell of alcohol, smoke, and sweat. Bodies were close and grinding against each other in the darkened room. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.

"Tyler!" Boomed a loud and large white man who was possibly twice my age. He was tall and muscular with brown hair and eyes. He was definitely attractive and I knew my best friend from Chicago, Shay, would be all over him.

"Matty," Tyler shouted over the music. "Hey man. This is Madison, beautiful right?"

In response to Tyler's inquiry Matty leered at me. I squirmed a little and shuffled closer to Tyler. At this he laughed and told me not to worry and that Matty was cool. He took my hand and twirled me slowly. Matty in turn whistled and told me that Tyler was a lucky bastard. Luckily we didnt socialize with him to much before Tyler grabbed me by the arm and dragged me around the house introducing me to everyone. Hours later I was sitting on Tyler's lap on a couch that smelled like weed when he decided that we needed privacy.

"Party's over! Matty clear 'em out!" Yelled Tyler. Matty immediately started kicking people out of the house until it the three of us were the only ones left.

"Alright, I'm going to go stir up some trouble in Forks. You kids have fun." Matty said with a wink before leaving keeping the front door open. When he was gone Tyler turned me around so I was straddling his waist and sitting on my knees. He ran his fingers through my hair and smiled up at me.

"Thanks for coming. It's important that my friends know you belong to me, so they know better than to touch you." He said said with a lazy grin. I nodded and he pulled my head down to kiss me. I let him press his lips against mine and opened my mouth when his tongue flicked my upper lip. At first the kiss was innocent, but soon turned heavy under Tyler's control.

I broke away to breathe and he lowered his lips to my neck. It all felt good physically, but something inside of me was in knots. I rationalized that it was probably nerves because I had never done anything like this willingly, but that thought just caused my gut to tighten further.

I gasped in pleasure when he bit my neck gently and I threw my head back in encouragement. I realized I was rocking against him and despite the satisfying stimulation, I felt like throwing up. I had orgasms before, mostly from Bryson, so I knew that this wasn't what it felt like. I tried distracting myself from the growing discomfort and turned my head to look out the front door.

Hiding in the trees stood a large, horse sized wolf with beautiful grey fur. His black eyes locked onto mine and I couldn't for the life of me look away. For a moment I forgot who I was and what I was doing. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and all I wanted to do was run to him.

"Wolf?" I said, trying to assure myself that he was really there.

"Why are you saying wolf?" Asked Tyler while he nipped at my shoulder. I still kept my eyes trained on Wolf so I saw when he barred his teeth at what I assumed was Tyler's voice.

Suddenly I felt an irrational sense of disdain for the little blue house in the woods and the seventeen year old boy under me. I disentangled myself from Tyler and he looked up at me confused. I took three deep breaths and tried to relax myself.

"Im sorry honey, are we going to fast?" He asked.

My eyes went back to the spot where Wolf was, but I didn't see him. "Yeah, Tyler I'm sorry. Would you mind taking me home?"

He nodded before not so discreetly adjusting himself in his jeans. "It's late anyway. I wouldn't want you to get grounded so I couldn't see you anymore. We've got 30 minutes until your curfew so I can get you home on time easily."

Through the ride to Qhala's I half listened to Tyler, but mostly wondered if I could find Wolf tonight like I had before. After Tyler walked me to the door and gave me a sweet kiss goodbye, I wandered to my room. On my way there I called a distant good night to Qhala so she'd know I was there before curfew.

I couldn't stop thinking about Wolf so I exchanged my skirt and fishnets for army fatigue cargo pants and threw on a massive black hoodie.

Tonight I was going to find him.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I know I suck, but really last month was a big month for me. I went to prom graduated from high school, etc. And let me not forget to mention my laptop broke. So go and throw tomatoes at me if you have no heart. Jk, it's a conflict filled one to make up for my sabbatical with lots of important stuff. As always review please, they feed me inspiration. Also shout out to Love who gave me a seriously sweet review. Thanks.**

**-Bre**

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><p>My thingy was broken. Well, not broken per se- but in definite need of repair. I felt it alive and buzzing inside of me, but I was having difficulties pinpointing the general location that would lead me to Wolf. I was starting to think I had made the whole "pull" thing up. After twenty minutes of just wandering around a cold and dark forest I was just about ready to give up and head back to Qhala's place.<p>

That was until I realized that I didn't know where exactly in the forest I was.

I had been so focused on following my jacked up pull that I had forgotten to pay attention to where I was going. I hadn't the slightest clue how to get back and I was deep enough in the trees that I couldn't see any man made lights breaking through them. Unfortunately the only light I had was from the beautiful stars above me. I was screwed. I decided to cut my losses and hug a tree with the hope that Qhala would get someone out here to find me in the morning. I figured I would probably die out here.

I laughed loudly at my hysteria, "When did I become such a drama queen?"

"I think it was that moment in time when you decided to sneak out of your house to stomp around the woods in the middle of the night." Answered an unfamiliar voice from an undeterminable location.

My eyes widened in surprise and I twirled around in a circle looking for the owner of the high, babyish voice. "Hello?" I called.

"Hello?" Echoed the soprano and tinkling voice.

"Who's there?" I called, slightly panicked.

"Who's there?" Giggled the voice. I started to get pissed off even though I could sense the danger in the situation. I put my back against the tree so I couldn't be surprised from behind. Clearly the voice, which I assumed was female, could see me, but I couldn't see her.

"I don't like being played with." I yelled out in frustration. Again she giggled and I realized that I had heard that annoying sound before.

"But playing is the best part of the hunt. You're not an Indian, but still... They ought to be pretty upset about you dying on their land." Suddenly a beautiful and painstakingly familiar woman was standing in front of me. We were so close that one of her wild, red curls managed to brush against my cheek.

"I know you," I whispered, to startled by her quick movements to be properly scared. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrow. I noticed that her eyes were so dark that they almost seemed pitch black. Her expression prompted me to speak more. "You were running and I couldn't catch you, I was so mad that I couldn't kill you. But I didn't want to kill you."

The woman chimed her cotton candy laugh and threw her head back dramatically. "Silly human, if I had meet you before you'd already be dead."

Instead of frightening me, her words enraged me. I narrowed my eyes at her and scoffed. She found my response to be entertaining and that made me dislike the beautiful woman even more.

"I'd watch that smirk if I were you," I warned. "I wouldn't want to mess up your pretty face and have it match that ugly attitude." I tilted my head in thought.

"Actually I want that very much." I added with my own little smirk. Before I could open my mouth again I was shoved hard against the tree with her hand around my throat. She lifted me until I was off of the ground with my feet dangling in the air. I started to kick at her and claw at her hand around my throat, but my efforts had no effect on her.

"While I find your intensity and bravado entertaining," Said Red. "I am rather thirsty and I don't think sitting here trading threats with you will anger a pack of wolves enough for them to continue to lose focus. It's really a shame you have to die because honestly I could use you as a companion and teammate in my game." She stopped herself mid rant and stared at me curiously. At the word "die" my attempts of escaping became more frantic and desperate.

"Well isn't that an idea?" She mused, her hold on my neck tightening. "Yes, a teammate or maybe an entire team because really seven against one is hardly fair. They won't do to me what they did to James. If fact, I'll do it to them. Seven newborns to a Cullen and one Bella all for me. Isn't that genius?" She asked me.

I stared at her in panic and nodded my head quickly. The bitch was obviously nuts and agreeing with crazy people was always easier than anything else. She giggled and released me to clap her hands enthusiastically. I fell to the ground and she grabbed me by my hair and yanked me onto my knees before she proceeded to drag me through the forest. I struggled to remove myself from her unnaturally strong grip all while being cut up by sharp rocks and twigs.

"Honestly child you'll be my best idea yet. I mean if I can keep from draining all of your blood and you can manage to survive the change and you don't annoy me after that."

I think I started screaming when she said survive the change. I was scared because a loony bitch with unimaginable strength thought she was going to drain my blood. I had no idea how to fight her so my only hope at surviving was to run like hell whenever the opportunity presented itself. Until then my plan was to scream as loudly as possible with the hope that someone would hear.

Unfortunately it was a group of somethings that heard me rather than someone. As quickly as the redheaded devil appeared in front of me there were four wolves surrounding us. From what I could see Wolf was not one of them and I instantly started to panic.

My throat closed as I choked on the new wave of fear that washed over me. My head began to pound and my ears rang with the sound of the wolves' howls. They circled us, hunched low to the ground with their canines bared. A large wolf with midnight black fur was clearly the leader of the others. Behind him there was a slightly smaller wolf with chocolate brown fur who was being trailed by a wolf with a coat that was an odd mixture of red and brown. Finally there was the small and lean wolf from my dream. It was her that made me realize the danger I was in.

She was the wolf that was so desperate to kill the woman who had yet to release her hold on me. I was sure that I would be another snack for them along side her. This was a terrible way to die and I just knew that those sharp fangs would cut through my skin slowly and painfully. La Push fucking sucked.

I looked up to see that Red was as panicked as I was. Her charcoal colored eyes were wild and scanning the surrounding area at a comically fast pace. Suddenly she let go of my hair and I hit my head hard on the forest floor. The ringing in my ears grew louder and the pounding in my head stronger. I felt the pull that had been dormant during the whole ordeal yank at my chest painfully. My vision blurred and my eyes felt as heavy as lead. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was four angry wolves lunging towards me.

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><p>It felt like all of my senses were taking a vacation except my sense of smell and taste. My eyes wouldn't open, the ringing wouldn't stop and I couldn't feel any part of my body moving despite the directions my brain was giving it. I could taste something hot and thick on my tongue that wasn't at all satisfying. I could also smell something sweet and cinnamony. Was this purgatory?<p>

The longer I lied there the quieter the ringing got, but the pounding grew harsher against my skull. I managed to pry my eyelids apart, but quickly shut them after they were assaulted by a blindingly bright light. I was able to wiggle my toes and feel the slight sting of pins and needles that meant my leg had fallen asleep. Again I opened my eyes, slowly I might add, and blinked rapidly until I adjusted to the brightness.

What I saw was surprising. The last thing I remembered was the forest floor, but I somehow managed to wake up in a bed in a room that was foreign to me. I looked around and saw that I was in what seemed to be a little girl's room. There were different shades of pink found in various objects around the room. Dolls, stuffed animals, and small shoes were strewn all over the floor. Where the fuck was I?

I climbed out of the bed and wiggled my legs sporadically until the my blood was properly flowing and those pesky pins and needles were gone. I snuck over to the door quietly and put my ear against it. I heard what sounded like a tv playing, but couldn't detect any noises that would suggest someone was out there. I cracked the door quietly and peeked out. I could see no one, but did hear a loud and boisterous laugh coming from downstairs. I quickly shut the door. That laugh was male and I was in no shape to fight or outrun anyone, especially not a guy.

Again I looked around the room and saw an open window. I snuck across the room and peeked out. I saw that I was facing the side of the house and was only two stories high. Below me was a rather large bush that I was sure could break my fall. I swung both of my legs through the window and threw myself out before I lost my nerve. I had decided before the jump that it would be best to land on my side so I angled my body in a way that I thought would allow me to fall properly. I hit the bush faster and harder than I thought I would before my body rolled over. I managed to not scream during the ordeal despite the fact that I hurt my shoulder.

After I got up I looked to my left and to my right. I wasn't sure which way to go and the ringing in my ears came back with a vengeance so I couldn't hear anything. In that moment my pull yanked me to the right, which was in the direction of the backyard. All of a sudden I knew that back there was safety and comfort so I was moving before I made the conscience decision to.

Holding on to my shoulder. I stumbled to the back of the house. My head was still pounding, but this time my heart joined it. When I got to my destination I was greeted by the large and muscular backs of five men. Before I could wobble away I noticed one of them taking his clothes off and running towards the forest. Before he could reach the trees he did a somersault in the air. The air simmered around him and his skin gave way to a sand colored fur. By the time he was on his feet again they were paws and he was facing the four remaining men. I tried to creep backwards silently, never taking my eyes off of the wolfman who had yet to see me. Unfortunately I tripped over God knows what and managed to fall hard on my ass. All five heads snapped my way in synchrony. Again my vision blurred, but this time it was due to the unrelenting tears streaming down my face. One of the men stepped towards me and I screamed.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N at the bottom.**

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><p><em><strong>The air shimmered around him and his skin gave way to a sand colored fur. By the time he was on his feet again they were paws and he was facing the four remaining men. I tried to creep backwards silently, never taking my eyes off of the wolfman who had yet to see me. Unfortunately I tripped over God knows what and managed to fall hard on my ass. All five heads snapped my way in synchrony. Again my vision blurred, but this time it was do to the unrelenting tears streaming down my face. One of the men stepped towards me and I screamed. <strong>_

Oh God. Quil, Paul, Embry... They all stared at me along with the wolf and an older face I didn't know. Fuck my life. Paul knew the wolfman. Shit, Paul probably was a wolfman. Did that mean they all were?

I pushed myself away with my feet as fast as I could while scooting on my ass. I knew I looked stupid, but I didn't want to look away from the stranger who was slowly creeping closer to me. I'm pretty sure I started begging him to leave me alone. He either didn't understand my blabbering or was ignoring my pleas completely.

Eventually my scooting caused me to hit something hard and hot behind me. I looked up and Brady was towering over me. "Oh God," I cried. "Don't fucking touch me."

His eyes looked pained, but he ignored me, picked me up and wrapped me in his arms. I don't know if the heat was coming from me or him, but all of a sudden it was unbearable and I let out a strangled cry.."You need to calm down Madds, you're gonna be alright," He whispered as he rocked me. "We're friends remember? Please don't forget that I'm your friend."

I struggled in his arms, trying to get away. He held me tighter and I realized that he was as strong as the woman in the woods.

The incredibly strong woman in the woods who was so terrified of the wolves that had surrounded us. Those wolves that were about the same size and the sand colored one not five feet away from me.

I stopped struggling and sagged in Brady's arms. They were going to eat me like the Big Bad Wolf who swallowed Grandma whole in Little Red Riding Hood. Oh crap, grandma. Qhala was going to be heartbroken. Shay was going to kill me when she heard that I was dead if anybody had the sense to contact her. Ellie and Stephanie were going to be pissed that I never called them to talk about my date with Tyler. I wondered if the wolves would dig right in with their canines or cut me up and cook me to eat in human form.

I hoped I could go to heaven with my dad and not have to wait for Lissa to join me in hell. I wondered if he would recognize me after all these years...

"Madison we're going to take you into the kitchen to discuss this." Said the stranger while Brady moved towards the front yard. I guess they were going to cook me up. Would they serve me with ketchup or hot sauce? I hope I'll taste like cat fur when they finally get around to eating me.

Brady set me down in a stool at an island in the misleading kitchen. I realized that this was were the cinnamon smell was coming from. Maybe they'd bake me into apple pies. I looked around and saw that I was surrounded by giants. I recognized all of them, but two.

I finally locked eyes with Paul. He stared at me, anger and disgust radiating from his pores. He couldn't even be nice to me before they ate me?

"I should start by introducing myself. My name's Sam," said the stranger. "This is Jared. You know everyone else. This isn't usually-"

"Before you all eat me, I'd like to request that Brady and Paul not be allowed to take part in the meal."

Quil, who was drinking from a water bottle, coughed and choked while Embry patted his back with more force than necessary. Sam stuttered and stared at me as if I was crazy.

"Eat you!" He exclaimed, eyes wide and disturbed. A woman decided to waltz into the kitchen and settle comfortably next to Sam. I noticed that she was beautiful, but scared. Three long, angry slashes ran from her temple, down her face and underneath her shirt. I could see that the scars ran deep into her otherwise perfect skin.

"Seth," Chimed the woman. "Take that pie out of the oven for me." Seth, who I had discovered was the sandy wolf from outside, reached into the oven sans oven mitt and pulled out the piping hot pie without so much as a flinch before setting it on the stovetop. My eyes widened and Collin laughed so hard that I'm sure the house shook.

"Why would you think that we wanted to eat you?!" Boomed Sam, who apparently was stuck on convincing me that I wasn't an afternoon snack to eat before the pie.

"Didn't you eat the redhead in the forest? And it looks like someone tried to take a swipe out of that poor woman. Did you Stockholm syndrome her ass into cooking up people and sleeping with you all? I'd rather be eaten." I said. I refused to slut my butt just to be a prisoner with benefits. I knew I sounded hysterical and was being rude to the women who I hadn't properly met, but I didn't care. For all I knew sh enjoyed the smell of cooking flesh and cinnamon.

Jared gagged a little and stared at me with a horror-struck expression. "What's wrong with her Paul?"

I glared at Paul, daring him to answer. "She's just a bit eccentric, I guess." He answered with a shrug. Eccentric my ass, everything I said had both rhythm and reason.

"I'd like to reiterate that Paul will not be allowed to eat me."

"Nobody's going to eat you!" Screeched Sam.

"Don't bullshit me. I will kick your furry ass." I screamed.

"Control your imprint Paul." Was Jared's response.

With an exasperated sigh, Paul strolled across the kitchen and threw me over his shoulder. He walked me through the house and out the door into the backyard while I beat my fist against his back. He took me into the forest and stopped a few yards away from the house. Paul dropped me onto a tree stump and sat on the ground in front of me.

The stump was tall enough that I was sitting higher than him and I recognized that he was attempting to appear both submissive and harmless. It was bull because I knew that Paul was both dominant and lethal, but the gesture did relax me just a bit.

"Are you familiar with any of the tribe's legends?" He asked. I shook my head no.

He went on to tell me about men whose flesh and souls were bound with wolves and protected their tribe with the help and guidance of their spirit warriors. Along with the wolves he told me about the cold ones who were the wolfmen's natural enemy, he said they drank the blood of innocents and threw away the dry bodies with no remorse. It was a frightful tale full of monsters and gory fights, until he told me about the Third Wife who bravely, yet foolishly, gave up her life for her husband.

"Why on earth would she do that? Wasn't it very common then for women to remarry after a husband's death?" I asked.

Paul looked at me strangely and let out a heavy sigh. "I forget how young you are sometimes. I guess you wouldn't understand with how immature you are." The tone of his voice suggested that he was not trying to be offensive, but I still regarded his words as condescending.

"Who are you to call me young? I'm almost 15. You're 16, last time I checked that wasn't much of a difference and you have no clue what I've been through." I jumped up and started to stomp away. Before my foot could complete its first fall Paul was in front of me and pushing me until I was once again sitting.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I didn't mean to offend you, but if you stay i'll explain why she did it." He said levelly. Unfortunately for me my curiosity was stronger than my pride so I remained seated and looked at him expectantly.

"She did it because she was his imprint. He would have easily done the same for her. In fact he would have done more." He explained.

"So what's an imprint? Is an imprint another word for wife?" I asked.

"No, an imprint… It's almost indescribable. An imprint is this girl, or this woman, that a wolf is bound to through destiny or magic or genes. We arent quite sure what causes it. But its this unbreakable, unseverable tie that connects you to this person. But the thing is that this girl…. She's so amazingly perfect that you don't ever want to break the bond. From the moment you see her, it's like BAM! That wolf is ready to die for this girl, but he's also ready to live for her too. Whatever she needs, whatever she wants…. he's gonna do everything in his power to make it happen. And she's supposed to feel the same way, but to a much lesser degree.

"It's total bullshit," He finished.

"It didn't sound like you thought it was bullshit when you were describing it. You almost sounded dreamy." I noted. In turn he rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Have you imprinted?"

"I have and she's a total pain in my ass. The first time I ever spoke to her she kneed me in the crotch." He said. I stared at him with wide eyes and he hurried up to explain himself further. "I'm not in love with you or anything and you're not going to get the urge to jump in front of any bloodsuckers to save me so don't worry your red little head about that. We're just friends or at least we can be. We don't have to be lovers- unless you want to," He said with an eyebrow wiggle.

This time I rolled my eyes and patted him on the shoulder. "Nice try,but no thanks. I'm not really into beastiality. Are we going to be best friends now?" I asked.

He nodded his head as an answer. "I'm afraid so, clearly you got the long end of the stick." He graced me with a sly smirk that made me smile in return. He stuck his hand out and winked at me, "Friends?"

I stared at his hand for awhile as if I was contemplating his offer before I gave him my hand. He grabbed me and pulled me into a warm hug that made me feel whole.

"Right," I said. "Friends…"

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><p><strong>AN: For Tabby- if you're still reading. Madison was not her own wolf, but was Paul. She doesn't know what's happening in her dream, she only knows that it feels like an out of body experience. This'll be explained in a later chapter.**

**For everyone- If you're all mad at me I give you full rights to throw buckets at my head. Yep actual buckets, if you want to fill them up with water you guys can do that too. If you're still around or new to the story review and let me know what you think. I promise to update at least every two weeks. I am a college student now and don't have as much time on my hands as I used to.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: This is so ridiculously late. But my excuse is simply college. Review please, let me know what you're thinking. Shout out to Tabby who's review reminded me that I needed to update. **

**P.S.- The first and second part were originally two different chapters that would've been way to short to stand alone. So apologies for the long read.**

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><p>Brady gave me a lift back to Quala's and by a lift I mean an unwanted piggyback ride. Brady was one of the first friends I made in La Push and even though I hadn't lived here for long I was kind of peeved that he kept something like that from me. Shayla, my best friend from Chicago, and I had a need to know relationship, but at least I knew what her big secret was. I felt an irrational sense of betrayal from Brady and I wasn't going to hide that from him.<p>

"Hey, Maddy Cakes," He whined. "You can't be mad at me forever you know. We're supposed to be friends and I mean come on! I'm sure I don't know everything about you?" Although his argument was sound, I still gave him the cold shoulder. That is until he started tugging on my hair with his humongous hand.

"Leave my hair alone you mongrel!" I shouted while pounding on his back. Which he apparently found funny. By the time we got to Quala's I was laughing as loudly as he was and was a lot less mad at him. He invited himself in and the promptly excused himself when we entered the house and found Quala sitting in the living room with a livid look on her face.

"I know you aren't used to a structured environment and have probably never had someone care rather or not you came home, but in this house you do. You're not in trouble because I've never established that I expect you home every night, unless we've discussed otherwise. But I am disappointed that you didn't consider my feelings when you snuck out of the house in the middle of the night." I stood there like a deer caught in headlights. After a pregnant pause she sighed and got up to leave. "But I'm glad you're ok." She said before exiting the room.

I stared at the seat Quala was in and frowned. I felt bad that she was worried, but the events of last night were not my fault. I mean yeah, I decided to go out in the middle of the night in search of a giant wolf that I knew nothing about, but I did have the intention of being home before she woke up. I don't know why I cared, but that look on her face- she was so sad and disappointed. Quala was so nice and I didn't like that there could possibly be a strain on our once steady relationship. So I did the same thing that I used to do for Lissa when I was kid and still cared if she was mad at me.

I quietly tiptoed to the kitchen and pulled out all the ingredients I needed for chocolate chip cookies. When I was little I used to just plate up the store bought kind because I wasn't old enough to bake. But now that I was 14 I got pretty adept at cooking whatever it was that I could get out of the fridge. I had learned to bake from Meghan, Shayla's personal chef. After making sure the batter was all set I put huge balls of cookies onto the cookie sheet and realized that I made way too much dough for two people. When the first batch was done I let them cool and continued to bake until I had about three dozen cookies. I plated the last batch a poured two glasses of milk. I put everything on the tray that Quala had and walked it all to her room. After knocking on the door, I slowly opened it and peaked my head inside to make sure that she wasn't going to throw a pillow at me or something. She was laying down on the bed with her back facing me.

I walked in and placed the tray on her nightstand before nudging her until she turned around and looked at me.

"Why do you smell so good?" She asked. I chuckled quietly and handed her a cookie.

"I baked," I answered. She took a bite of the cookie and nodded her head in what I assumed was approval. "I'm sorry," I said, handing her a glass of milk and grabbing a cookie for myself.

"I didn't plan on staying out all last night, I just went for a walk in the woods late at night when I couldn't sleep. I ended up getting lost and wound up at Emily's place. You, Emily right? The girl with the-"

"Scars? Yes, I didn't know you knew her."

"Well I didn't. When I realized that I was lost I just looked around for lights and her house was the first one I saw. She was really nice about me waking her up in the middle of the night. She told me she'd get one of the boys to take me home the next morning because it wasn't safe to be wandering around at night. I'm sorry, honestly Quala is was a mistake." I explained. She nodded her head again.

"I believe you, that Emily girl is nice. People spread rumors about her that don't have a lick of truth to them, don't you believe any of that crap people are spewing." She said. I nodded, it was easy to understand people jumping to conclusions about Emily. I had done it myself, basically assuming that she was a bed warming cannibal.

I handed Quala another cookie. "So are you less mad than before?" I asked timidly. I wasn't used to seeking adult's approval and I felt small asking her to not be mad at me.

"Oh honey," Quala exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. "I was never mad! I was only worried, worried sick actually. Emily wasn't lying when she said it wasn't safe around here at night. There are strange monsters lurking around these parts. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." She said ominously. The way she tightened her arms around me when she said monsters lead me to believe that Quala knew more than the wolves might think anyone else on the Rez knew.

I smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "I'm gonna leave these cookies here for you," I said before grabbing one more for myself. I headed to the kitchen, cleaned up and then showered. After changing into some fresh clothes I grabbed my old friend, Jer Bear. I cuddled with him and pulled my journal out. Flipping to a random page in the middle of the book I wrote three words.

**_They aren't human_**

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><p>I was adducted by the vampire on Thursday, then adducted by the wolves on Friday. I had spent Saturday and Sunday with Quala to make up for worrying her to death. Which meant that today was a Monday and I hadn't spoken to either Ellie, Samantha or Tyler all weekend. Which meant that I was in trouble.<p>

I hadn't even made it to my locker yet before I was tackled to the hallway floor by Ellie. Samantha stood above us with a hand on her hip. "You have some nerve showing up here in one piece after disappearing for an entire weekend. We had a date Madison Monroe Montgomery, do you know what happens to people who don't show up for dates with Ellie and I? Bad things happen Montgomery, very bad things."

As if on some cue Ellie started to give me a half-hearted knuckle sandwich, completing messing up my hair. We wrestled until I got her underneath me, and she cried uncle. She may have been wrestling 4 older brothers her whole life, but that was nothing on constantly wrestling grown men who weren't pulling any punches. Samantha helped pull both of us off of the ground. "This look isn't helping the rumors." She said.

"What rumors?" I asked as Ellie broke out laughing.

"There are some lame guys and jealous girls going around saying that we're all in some kind of polygamous lesbian relationship. As if you losers could hook up with me." Ellie answered while raking a brush that appeared out of nowhere through her blue hair. Samantha and I laughed before we all sobered up and the bell rang.

"You're sitting with us at lunch to explain yourself Missy, do you understand?" Samantha asked while walking away from us. I nodded and she shot Ellie and I a thumbs up before running to her first class. I looped my arm with Ellie's and we skipped to our class where I sat next to Brady.

The day flew by fast except for the fact that Tyler ignored me the entire time. I sat with Ellie and Samantha at lunch with no objections from him and obviously the girls noticed.

"What happened with you two?" Asked Samantha.

"Yeah, we assumed that you and Tyler spent all weekend wrapped up in each others arms making everyone around you want to throw up." Added Ellie.

I rolled my eyes at her and explained to them that I was with him on Thursday, got sick on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend recovering from the bug that I had caught. I felt bad for lying to my friends, but lying was something that I had grown accustom to.

"It sounds like you guys had fun at his party and at the beach, I can't imagine why he would be upset with you," Said Samantha. I shrugged and looked over at his table longingly, he wasn't paying any attention to me. My eyes wandered to the table next to his and I noticed that Paul was looking at me intently. I smiled at him and waved before looking back at Tyler. For a girl who wanted to be invisible to the male population most of the time, I absolutely hated being ignored. I was ten seconds away from throwing something at Tyler's head when Ellie snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"Way to look like a stalker Madds, you've been staring at him for like five minutes. I don't even think you blinked." She said. I shoved her and she threw a fry at me, which caused me to throw a tator tot at her. Samantha quickly dove for cover behind her empty tray while Ellie and I threw food at each other. Eventually one caught me in my mouth and I almost died which caused my girls to crack up. After hacking up the fry, I flipped both of them the bird before laughing along with them and wondering off to my next class.

Tyler ignored me in gym and I ended up having to partner with Jake, which wouldn't have been a bad thing any other day. I was sick with worry, wondering what was up with Tyler. I watched him play basketball from across the gym like a love-struck teenager. I felt pathetic. Jacob noticed my longing looks and tried to distract me from my Tyler induced fog, but it was to no avail. It's fair to say I got hit with a lot of balls that day.

After gym I changed quickly and ran outside to wait for Tyler at his car. When he exited the building and finally reached his car he didn't speak to me. He threw his bag into the back seat and climbed into the driver's seat. He rolled the window down and looked at me.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get in?" He asked. I nodded and ran to the other side of the car, jumping into the passenger seat. I looked around the lot as Tyler pulled off, hoping to let Ellie know that I didn't need a ride today after all. Instead of Ellie I locked eyes with Paul. I waved at him, feeling awkward from the tension that Tyler was radiating. In return he gave me a weak smile that I couldn't get out of my head even after we had drove far away from La Push High.


	13. Chapter 13

**Late as usual. Read and review please. Wolf refuses to make another appearance until I get some. Thank you :) **

**- Bre**

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><p>Tyler drove quickly through the mostly empty streets of La Push. I could tell he was upset with me, but I couldn't guess why. I soon realized that we weren't heading for the beach like I expected, but to his house in the middle of the woods. When we reached our destination Tyler grabbed his bookbag and my messenger bag before storming off to the house. I trailed along after him cautiously and was pleased that he opened and held the front door for me. He closed it after us and locked it. I made my way to the couch and he followed silently, a brooding look on his handsome face.<p>

"I am so mad at you." He said after sitting down next to me.

"I can tell," said. "But, why?"

"You didn't call me once this weekend. You were off doing God knows what with God knows who and I didn't even know if you were still alive." He ranted.

At this I rolled my eyes. "You're my boyfriend Tyler, not my keeper. I think Quala has got that covered."

He squinted his eyes at me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me close to him. His forehead touched my own and he looked me straight in the eyes. "I want to know that you're safe Madison. Don't you know that I'm your man and as your man it's my job to take care of you?"

I nodded. I hadn't had a boy take care of me since my father passed when I was eight.

"Don't you know that I care about you?" He asked, kissing me on the lips gently. "Don't you know that I'm here for you?" He said, giving me another kiss. "All I'm asking is that you be here for me too. Is it so hard to pick up a phone and let me know that you're ok every hour or so? So I won't worry?"

At this point I was on my back and he was hovering over me, looking at me with a raw passion that was almost scary. I realized that he was waiting for an answer when he nudged me neck with his nose.

"No, baby. It's not to much." I answered pulling his face to mine and kissing him passionately.

"Good, now that I know you'll be there for me, I bought you something." He got up and moved to his backpack. "Well two somethings." He handed me a gift bag full of balled up tissue paper. I dug through the paper until I finally reached the bottom. There were two boxes. One was obviously a jewelry box, the other held what I assumed was a very expensive cellphone. I looked up at him and started shaking my head rapidly.

"Are you crazy?" I asked, my voice going up an octave or two. "You can't give me this, we hardly know each other!"

He laughed and reached in the bag, handing me the jewelry box. "Open this one too."

I opened the box and saw a beautifully dainty necklace with the name _Tyler _dangling from its silver chain. I pulled it out of the box and held it up in awe. No one had ever bought me such expensive or beautiful gifts before. If I was any other girl I'd probably be in tears. "Oh my gosh, Tyler! It's beautiful."

He laughed and took the chain from my hand before placing it on my neck as I held up my unruly hair. He clasped the necklace in place and then kissed me right about the part of my breast where his name rested. "So everyone knows who you belong to."

Then he grabbed the cell phone from me, talking it out of the box. "And this is so you'll have a way of calling me and checking in or something if you ever need me. I already programmed my number in there at the store in Port Angeles. And I put Matty's number in there in case you can't reach me. You remember Matty right, from the party?"

I nodded my head as he handed me the phone. I remembered that look that he had given me. A look I received from far to many men. I started playing with my phone adding Qhala's, Ellie's, Samantha's, and Shayla's numbers in it. I downloaded stupid apps that I heard classmates talking about and googled random things because it was fun to hear Google talk. Tyler laughed at me, saying I looked like a kid on Christmas. I stuck my tongue out at him and moved to his kitchen looking in the fridge.

"There is literally nothing in here but beer," I said astonished. "What are you surviving on?"

"Sue's diner of course. I'm not supposed to cook, I'm a man," He said laughing. "But if you want to pick up some groceries later this week so you can cook when you're over her I'd be down for that."

"That sounds good." I agreed. I couldn't buy him any expensive gifts, but I could repay him by cooking for him every now and then. Tyler's phone went off and he excused himself to the porch, leaving the door open. I could easily hear his conversation even if I had been trying to listen.

"Do you need me right now?... No it's fine, I'm just gonna drop my girl off…. Who am I taking care of?... You sure he'll be alone, i'm not trying to push my luck with his crew…. That's fine. I'll meet you on Fifth in a few hours so you can pick it up." He ended the call and came back in the room. "Listen baby, something came up at work. I have to drop you off a Quala's."

I nodded my head, thinking that his conversation sounded a lot like the ones Jay, my mom's dealer, used to have with his boys in Chicago. I decided not to ask him about it because it was none of my business and from what I could tell he wasn't doing any of the hard drugs that my mother favored. We walked to his the car and he drove me to my house, reminding me to text him later.

Quala wasn't home and it was still kind of early at seven o'clock. I sent Shayla a text message so she would have my new number and reorganized my bedroom closet out of sheer boredom. I wondered over my life in La Push so far and I suddenly went cold as a thought flitted across my mind. My old "friend" Wolf was no ordinary animal, but a werewolf. One of those fuckers was charading as a hurt animal while listening to me talk on and on for hours. And then Wolf was at Tyler's last week… which meant that someone was stalking me. And by someone, I meant Brady.

I grabbed my jacket and threw on my shoes before storming down the road to Emily's place. That little prick was in so much trouble.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: First and foremost Review Shout Outs! **

**1. TABBY! I love you girl 3 Your reviews are oh so sweet and this chapter is dedicated to you. Hopefully answers to most of your questions are in this chapter. If not review and I'll answer whatever you need [ without spoilers of course ;) ] Any who, I love you chick. Don't ever change!**

**2. Epoch95 thank you so much! I really appreciate you saying that my story is different. I hope you'll stick with me and see how things turn out for our Paul and Madison.**

**3. Just want to thank all you guys that favorited and or followed me or my story. I love that you guys are interested enough in my story to want to know when I update or post more. :)**

**This is getting lengthy. More at the bottom, review please -Bre**

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><p>I burst into Emily's house, knowing that that was where Brady spent most of his free time. Quil smirked at me from the couch while managing to look both expectant and surprised. I ignored him and marched into the kitchen. Brady sat at the table with his back facing me laughing at something Collin was saying. I grabbed the first thing I saw (a broom) and whacked him across his head as hard as I could, which was pretty hard. He jumped in surprise and instinctually broke his hand to his head.<p>

"WHAT THE FUCK!" He yelled before jumping out of his chair. I went to hit him again, but someone behind me snatched the broom out of my hand. So I threw myself at Brady and started punching him as hard as I could. It hurt like hell and I only got a few punches in before another person pulled me off of him. I was fuming, not knowing exactly why I was so angry, but at the same time not caring. Even though I had only gotten in a few hits my fist were busted and oozing blood. I heard yelling around me as I was tugged away from Brady, but I didn't know what was being said or who was saying it. I thrashed my legs out in attempt to hit my target. My feet meet nothing, but air and that frustrated me enough that I let out a feral growl. It was nowhere near as scary as the wolves' growls, but I got my point across and whoever was restricting me let me go.

I bared my teeth at the group. I was seeing red. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was scared, but not of the wolves I knew surrounded me. I was scared of whatever the fuck was happening to me. I hadn't been this angry when I left Quala's house had I? No, I wasn't. I had planned on cursing Brady out and maybe sicking Paul on him if he was around. I had never been so violent in my life. Sure I liked to fight and I used to fight my many "pursuers" on a nightly basis, but never had I hit someone as hard as I hit Brady. If he had been human I was sure that he'd be unconscious. I backed myself up against a wall not wanting to lash out again. They let me be and after what seemed like ages I calmed down significantly, but was still pissed. Not pissed enough to murder though. That was what counted.

I looked up at the giants hovering over me with teary eyes. "I'm sorry." I muttered trying not to let the tears fall. I hadn't cried in front of anyone since I was ten and I didn't want to break my streak.

"What the fuck?" Brady breathed. He sat in front of me and that was when I noticed that I was crouched, almost like an animal, in a corner. I allowed myself to fall onto my ass as I pulled my knees up to my chest. "What happened?"

I shook my head, not knowing the answer. "I was mad at you, because you've been stalking me in your wolf form and I wanted to confront you," I hiccuped and took a deep breath. "I was just gonna cuss you out and make you explain yourself, but I don't know what happened! I walked into the kitchen and I was suddenly overwhelmed by this need to just _hurt _somebody. Oh God Brady, I'm sorry!" I exclaimed before burying my head between my knees. I felt myself shaking. Was I in shock?

Suddenly I heard the front door slam open and a loud, booming voice asking angrily, "Where is she!? I swear to God I'll kill everyone in here!" I shuddered at the sound of his voice and felt another harsh wave of violence go through me. I curled into myself, not wanting him to see me. I didn't want to try to hurt him.

I heard him crash into the kitchen but refused to look up. I didn't want to see him seeing me. "What happened!?" He roared. I heard who I think was Sam telling Paul to calm down. Paul so kindly told Sam to kiss his ass and then demanded that someone tell him what happened.

As Brady explained that I tried to murder him Paul stomped over to me and wrapped his arms around me, picking me up and carrying me out of the room and outside. I wrapped my legs around his waist and realized that I was freezing without him. I still hadn't looked at him, but I could tell we were no longer inside by the feel of the rain. "Are you fucking crazy?"

I almost answered him thinking he was speaking to me, but Brady beat me to it.

"Excuse me?" He asked, genuinely shocked by the question.

"I feel this… _whatever _it was and it was coming from _her _Brady! I followed my wolf and came to Sam's place to find her hurt, scared, and backed up into a _fucking corner_ surrounded by wolves. Again I repeat, are you all fucking crazy! I could kill every person in that house right now and not feel a tad bit guilty about it." He ranted.

"I know that sounds and looked bad, but trust me. It wasn't anything like that. She attacked me, unprovoked I might add!, and then continually attempted to murder me. Her eyes were black. Sam tried to pull her off and calm her down, but that just freaked her out more so he let her go. Then she backed herself into that corner and when I saw that she was calm and had green eyes again, I approached her _carefully_ and asked her what happened. She thinks i'm stalking her, she's gone a little c-r-a-z-y."

I looked up from Paul's shoulder where my head was resting and glared at Brady. "I can spell you dumb fuck. And I know you were stalking me, I've seen your wolf several times. You let me talk to you knowing full well that I thought I was talking to an animal. Who else would it be?"

"What the actual fuck are you talking about Mads? You've never talked to any of us wolves. Trust us we would no unless-" Brady's eyes widened and instead of looking at me he looked at Paul. My shame was momentarily forgotten and I looked at my hot headed friend as well. Paul was looking at anything but me. I'm pretty sure the fucker started whistling nonchalantly.

I punched him in the Adams apple.

He dropped me.

I fell into the mud, but that was the least of my problems. I hadn't even considered Paul as a possibility and why not? Because I trusted him… I thought that that imprinting bullshit meant that he couldn't lie to me or something. Best friends didn't let each other talk to them as animals unknowingly! That had to be written in the imprint manual or something. That fucker! I went to kick him in the shin, but the clever little prick dodged my foot. I wanted to hurt him, but not murder him. I wasn't seeing red so that meant that I was just being my socially acceptable violent self. I was just about to throw mud at his lying face before Sam came out of the house clearing his throat.

"You need to go see the elders and talk about this… incident."

Paul groaned and I looked at Sam confused. "The elders?"

"They're this group of old guys who think they know everything and is in everyone's business." Paul answered. I ignored him and looked at Sam expectantly.

Sam rolled his eyes when he realized that I was giving Paul the silent treatment. "The elders are the council to the Chief. They know everything there is to know about La Push and it's history. They'll know if anything like what just happened to you has happened before and they'll be able to tell us if you're too dangerous to be around the other imprints…" He trailed off, obviously not meaning to share that information with me. He cleared his throat at my glare. "Paul will take you and Brady. Emily already called them and you'll be meeting at Billy's. Try not to kill anyone."

I tilted my head and looked up at Paul long and hard. I was pissed. "I'll make no promises."

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><p><strong>AN (continued): My sincerest** apology for the late chapter and sorry if you all think its short. I definitely want to have this finished or at least close to finished before the year is over and since my winter break starts December 13th I feel like I can probably maybe do it. It all depends on how loud the characters in my head are. They write their own stories. I'm babbling... wish me luck with my deadline.****

**Keep reading and review pretty please. Any ideas on where this is going? How it could possibly connect with those strange dreams Madison has been having? And how long do you guys think Mads can go without talking to Paul?... Let me know. These questions will be answered in the next chapter. **


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thanks to my girl Tabby who reviews without fail. Also thanks for the follows/favorites from everyone. Remember to review! See you at the bottom of my longest chapter ever. -Bre**

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><p>"Stop apologizing."<p>

"I've never felt so bad for anything in my life and I kicked a grown man's teeth in once," I whined. I omitted the fact that that grown man was getting a little too handsy while Lissa was "out." He broke up with her the next morning.

"It's fine! You're forgiven besides, you got hurt more than I did." Rationalized Brady. I nodded my head and ignored the sounds of Paul growling a few feet behind us. I refused to walk if he was next to me so he conceded and trailed us by at least three feet. I unconsciously clenched and unclenched my hand. When I fell in the mud some of it got into the cuts on my hand and it was starting to burn.

We turned onto my street and I looked at Brady confused. "Why are we on my street? I thought we were going to Jimmy's."

He laughed and pointed to Jacob's little red house where an unfamiliar pickup truck was parked. "That's Billy's house. Billy is Jake's dad. He's also the chief of the tribe so he's head of the council and elders."

"So…" I trailed off. "This Billy guy is kind of a big deal?" Brady nodded and I looked down at myself. My knuckles were scratched up and my hands were covered in dried blood and dirt. My clothes were caked in mud and I could see that my hair was soaking wet by the way it clung to me and how heavy it was on top of my head. I was not meeting the chief looking like this. I convinced Brady that a quick stop at my house was a necessity so I could at least look half decent when meeting Billy. He wholeheartedly agreed that I looked like a hot mess. So I ran to my room while Paul and Brady sat in Quala's kitchen.

I quickly stripped and rinsed off the dirt in the shower. I dressed in a simple pair of jeans, my dad's old hoodie, and a pair of black combat boots. I swept my hair up into a ponytail, knowing that it would be a mess of frizzy curls when it dried. I ran downstairs and found Paul and Brady inhaling a leftover chicken. I rolled my eyes. "All right duckies, let's go."

I allowed them to leave the dishes on the table. Quala was volunteering at the hospital in Forks tonight so I knew I'd be back before her and would have time to clean up. We all walked the short distance to Jake's house and Brady waltzed in without a single knock. Surely the boy's didn't just barge into the chief's house? Just to be sure I knocked lightly on the door before entering. I followed Brady into the living room where two old men and a woman sat waiting. They introduced themselves as ""Old" Quil Ateara V, Sue Clearwater, and Billy Black.

"Hello Madison!" Sue practically yelled. "It's so nice to meet Paul's imprint finally, really this meeting is far overdue. There should have been a proper bonfire arranged for you the moment you found out about the pack. Honestly they're slacking over there-"

"She just found out a few days ago Sue, calm down. And none of us saw her all weekend." Explained Paul. Sue waved him off and ushered me to the loveseat before doing the same to Paul. The seat was so small and he was so big that I was damn near in the boy's lap. Brady opted not to sit at all and leaned on a wall instead.

Billy cleared his throat and stared at me with intensity. "We'll be sure to get you up to date on the legends, but when is Paul's choice. That'll be discussed at a later time between your wolf and the pack. We're here today because of much more pressing matters. Now Madison, would you explain to us what happened?"

I told him every detail that I could remember while Sue wrote things down in a cheap notebook. Billy nodded his head as I spoke and Old Quil closed his eyes while he listened. After I finished Brady and Paul told the same story but from different perspectives.

"Paul what were you doing before you felt Madison's… emotions?" Asked Old Quil.

"I was at home in my room trying to sleep." He answered, his eyes flickering to me for a brief second.

Sue looked at Paul with an expression of what seemed like pity. "And your parents?"

Paul sighed and looked at me again for a long second before dragging his eyes to Sue. "The usual. They were fighting, he hit her and I was angry because I knew I couldn't do anything about it. That no matter how bad he messes her up, she'll always defend him." Paul was starting to shake next to me and I tried scooting over and away from him. I was pretty sure that had something to do with his wolf stuff. As I scooted away his shaking increased, so I tried moving closer and noticed that that lessened his shakes. Paul was weird.

"So you were angry? Did you phase?" Old Quil asked.

"No. I just… I was so close to phasing. I could feel my rage growing, feeding my wolf. But I didn't let it consume me. I pushed it away and I felt it leave my body and then I was fine- just really tired. I started to drift off and right before I could go under I felt Madison so I went to her. Without even thinking I was out my window and following that pull."

"Well it sounds to me-" Started Billy, but I rudely interrupted him.

""Wait, you feel it too?" I asked Paul.

"Huh?"

"The pull. You feel it too?" I clarified. He nodded his head confused. "I thought I was crazy feeling that thing tugging at my chest all the time. I thought it was broken too, that's why I had gotten lost in the woods when that vampire found me. I was out looking for Wolf, but it wasn't leading me in the right direction because I obviously didn't find him- I mean you. I didn't find you. Now that I think about it, I don't really feel it right now." I looked to the elders. "Why is my pull broken and his isn't?"

"Wait, what?! You were with a vampire?!" Sue asked. I nodded my head. "Why did no one inform the council? Dammit are we going to have to make you boys submit a weekly report?!"

Brady who had been quietly observing so far spoke up. "No ma'am, we've just had our hands tied trying to catch the vamp that we didn't even think to tell you all that Madds tried to get herself killed. We don't understand why the leech is trying to cause so much turmoil in La Push if all she wants is Bella."

"Who's Bella?" That name sounded familiar for some reason.

"I'm Bella," Answered a pretty little brunette who had just walked into the house with Jacob. "And it's probably because Victoria knows I spend a lot of time here."

"Who's Victoria?" I asked.

"The vampire that I'm going to murder for putting you in danger." Said Paul.

"Not if I get her first." Interrupted Jacob while he stared at the pale girl with an almost creepy level of intensity. This obviously was the friend he mentioned when we first met, the one who was going through something. Maybe that's where I had heard the name before.

"This is completely out of control," Said Old Quil. "Sue, Billy? Do you guys have any idea what's going on here?"

"Yes. We need to address Madison's… episode. We've also got her "broken" imprint pull and then there's the vampire meeting that we need to discuss."

"Wait a minute, what happened with Little Red?" Jake interrupted again.

"I'll show you later," Said Brady. Jake nodded as Billy let out a long, low sigh.

"Alright as I was saying in regards to the episode. It seems to me that Paul pushed his emotion of rage to you, Madison."

"Wait, what? How's that possible I thought only the wolves felt their imprint's emotions, not vice versa." Said Jacob.

"Well son every imprint is different and every wolf is bonded to his mate for a reason. It is no secret that Paul has had more issues with control than any other pack member. I believe that he has been given Madison to settle him."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Paul said. "She doesn't calm me down. If anything she pisses me off more than any of the pack can."

I shrunk down in my seat and frowned before I realized that I was sulking over a boy's opinion of me. I rolled my eyes at myself, but remained low in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest. Paul looked down at me with a frown of his own. I shifted my body so that I wasn't as close to him as before and I noticed that he visibly flinched when I did it.

"Well maybe that's what she needs?" Said Brady who hadn't been aware of our small moment. "I mean she's got a lot of anger inside of her and I don't know why, but obviously that needs some type of release right? So she argues with Paul to get her anger out and he pushes his own anger at her when he needs to? This hasn't happened before, but it's been along time since Paul has been mad enough to wolf out involuntarily. And you know what else? Her eyes were black. When our wolves are very close to the surface and we're about to phase involuntarily our human eyes turn black. Plus her freak out happened at about the same time that Paul was losing control. All signs point the Billy's theory." Everyone looked at Brady and he fidgeted under their attention.

"What? I'm smart." I cracked a smile at him and chose to ignore that crap he spewed about me being angry. It was true that I had been feeling angry about my upbringing, but it had been awhile since I last argued with Paul. La Push and it's male population was distracting me from the foreign feelings of resentment. Before I could think more on the subject Old Quil pushed the meeting forward.

"Now, let's hear about this vampire."

I told them how I had been trying to find Paul/Wolf with my fucked up pull before the vampire approached me. "I recognized her and she told me that if I had ever seen her before I'd already be dead. Then I might have told her to watch her mouth or something and she thought that was fucking hilarious for some reason. Then she said something about angering a pack of wolves and distracting them. There was something about seven newborns to a Corin so she could get Bella all to herself… Oh hey! That's where I heard the name Bella before."

Everyone in the room was staring at me and if I was anyone else I'm sure it would have made me uncomfortable. "Are you sure that's what she said?" Asked Jacob.

"Yeah, it was all pretty weird. Like, where the hell was she going to find seven newborns? And what the hell is a Corin that she needed seven babies for each one of them? And how was changing me going to help her get to Bella or get her babies? The woman was bat shit."

"Not Corins, Cullens. She wants to make seven newborn vampires for each Cullen." Bella's voice was so low that I almost didn't hear her speak and I would have forgotten that she was in the room if she didn't stand so close to Jacob who spoke frequently. Her skin was almost white and her brown eyes were big with what I assume was worry over the newborn vampires.

"Wait a minute what!? She wants to turn babies into vampires!?"

"What?" Asked Paul. "No, what's wrong with you? She wants to turn seven new humans into vampires for each member of the Cullen Coven. Which means she plans on killing 49 innocent humans just to get to that leech lover over there. And what did you mean you _recognized _the leech?"

"I saw her in a dream. I was a wolf and I was hunting her. I didn't know she was a vampire at the time or I would have killed her, but man was that bitch fast. And it made me so angry that I couldn't kill her. Now that I think about it… my wolf paws looked an awful lot like yours do Paul."

"Do you think it's possible that you could have been pushing your anger at not being able to catch Victoria to Madds while she was sleeping? And because she was asleep her outlet of the anger was the dream instead of trying to murder someone. She was connecting with your wolf and stealing some of that rage so you could be more focused on the kill. Quil did say you were on your game that night and closer to getting the leech than any of us have ever been…" Brady trailed off.

"I _was _more focused than I had ever been-"

"And the woman in my dream did made me desperate and wild with fury. I almost lost it when my fangs locked on nothing but air." I said, interrupting Paul. I saw him nodding in agreement while Old Quil gave us a puzzled look as he gazed between the both of us.

"I need to see you both as the tribe Shaman instead of as a council member. There is something very strange about you two."

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><p><strong>AN (CONTINUED): Anyone confused by the rapid changes of conversation topics and the constant interruptions? My mom is fond of family meetings and on the off chance that any of her children have something to say we all speak over each other and interrupt without fail. So this was kind of written in the way that my family handles meetings. If you have any questions let me know. And I have one for you...**

**What do you think Old Quil will find? **

**Btw, it's been Monday for the past three and a half chapters. Longest. Day. Ever. I'm going to schedule the meeting with Old Quil at a later day in the week because I need to get to Wednesday for Madd's group therapy session. **

**And finally I have another story up for those who aren't following me as an author. I know I don't need another fic up with how horrible I am at updating this one, but don't worry it's only three chapters. It's also not an imprint story. It's about Maria and its called "Her Story" Give it a try. First two chapters are all ready up.**


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: I made a mistake in my last author's note. Group sessions are on Tuesdays NOT Wednesdays. And her meetings with Leah are on Mondays, but she was unknowingly excused from that meeting because a vampire attacked her and then she found out a great majority of her friends were werewolves. Leah had sympathy and didn't call her in. Madds doesn't know that, (the problems with first person point of view) but I thought a few of you might have been curious. Ok… on with the show.**_

_**Oh P.S somethings at the end of the chapter might make some uncomfortable. I don't think it's anything too graphic, but if someone can't get through it for any reason PM or review and I'll recap in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Also this is a ridiculously long chapter. Sorry guys. See you at the bottom. **_

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><p>After Billy dismissed us Paul and Brady walked me to my house. I collapsed onto my bed after sending Tyler a quick text and if it wasn't for Quala I would have probably slept through the day. Tyler left me a voicemail explaining that he couldn't pick me up which meant I had to walk this morning or bum a ride from Ellie. I opted to walk because Ellie lived on the other side of the reservation and I was out of her way. When I did get to the school I was out of breath which I found unusual. I guess all those rides from Tyler was stealing the only exercise I got. I damn near fell into my seat as I draped myself over Brady who thought my predicament was humorous.<p>

"Shut up asshole." I panted.

"I can't help but laugh. You should see how poofy your hair is."

"Fuck you. It's raining and I was sweating. I didn't even know a person could perspire when they're being rained on. You need to share your book with me, I couldn't make it to my locker. I was about to lose consciousness." I put my hand over my forehead and batted my eyelashes at him while attempting a "damsel in distress" look. He just laughed at me and pushed his book in the middle of our table.

"And um… If I could borrow a pen and some paper I'd be much obliged." I said, switching to a southern belle approach. At this he rolled his eyes and handed me a chewed on pen and crumpled piece of paper. I shrugged- beggars couldn't be choosers. The rest of my day was pretty uneventful with the exception of Ms. Clearwater reminding me and Tyler that we had a group session after school.

When the time for our session came Tyler and I walked into the room hand in hand. We sat next to each other,but were separated when Ms. Clearwater had us break up into small groups. Within our small groups we pretended to vent about things that made us angry since our last group meeting. I definitely wasn't into it, but I wasn't about to make a scene when Quala was so happy with me for doing this. When the session was over Tyler kissed me goodnight and told me that he needed to drive to Port Angeles so I had to walk home again.

"I'm sorry to intrude or whatever, but I couldn't help overhearing. Are you walking home tonight?" Asked Ms. Clearwater.

"Yeah, actually I am. Tyler has stuff to do so…" I trailed off.

"Well I'm heading to Billy's I'll walk with you." The tone of her voice made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion. I nodded my head as Ms. Clearwater started walking with me. "So Paul finally told you about the pack huh?"

I almost tripped over my own feet. "Um…"

"He didn't tell you I was a wolf did he? That idiot, well I am a wolf. The only pack female actually." She said with pride.

"Oh. That's pretty cool Ms. Clearwater." I responded awkwardly. My guidance counselor was the female wolf in my dream?

"Call me Leah outside of school. You're pack! It would be weird if I saw you at Billy's or Sam's and you were calling me Ms. Clearwater. God knows the guys don't call me that."

"Ok Leah." This was probably the strangest conversation that I ever had and that's including the one I had with Sam about eating me. "So you must go crazy being the only shewolf around."

"Yeah, absolutely. Especially with the pack mind."

"What do you mean pack mind?" I asked curiously.

"When we're in wolf form we can read each other's minds. Being able to hear all the gross things that guys think about used to drive me crazy, but now I'm practically a dude they've influenced me so much." She answered with a chuckle.

"Wait a minute. They can read your mind?" I was starting to panic.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I don't think about you or your history when I'm a wolf. I know you haven't told Paul or Brady anything and I'll respect your choice to keep your business to yourself. Though I don't exactly agree with it. You have to talk about stuff like that or it'll eat you up from the inside."

"Look at you counseling me." I said laughing. This conversation was getting a little too personal for my liking and I was trying to change the subject.

"Ugh I am aren't I? Sometimes I can't help it, it's not something I can turn off. But you did a good job on trying to change the subject." She raised her eyebrow at me silently daring me to deny it. I sighed. The woman would be an intimidating mother some day.

"You can't blame me for trying." I mumbled. She laughed and patted me lightly on the back.

"What is Paul going to do with a soul mate like you?"

"Excuse me?" I stopped walking.

"He didn't tell you that you guys were imprints? Seth said he did…" She trailed off nervously.

"Mhm. He told me we were imprinted he didn't say anything about soul mates."

"Oh… That idiot. What did he tell you?" She asked.

"That he was a werewolf and that we were going to be best friends. Don't try to distract me, what do you mean Paul and I are soul mates?"

"God he's going to kill me. There are stages to imprinting so to speak. There's friendship/ companionship, and then it's that awkward stage where the girl realizes she wants to be more than friends, and finally it's the romantic relationship. How fast the couple goes through each stage depends on the girl. Jared and Kim were fucking like bunnies in a week.

Sam and Emily," She hesitated. "They took a while. And you and Paul… I don't think you guys are even in the first stage yet. You hardly see each other."

"Paul didn't tell me anything about this." I whispered.

"Yeah, I can tell. Look I don't know how he's been giving you all this space, but he's been really generous about it. The moment you express that you want more than what you guys are doing he'll be all over it. Tell him you want to spend more time with him and he will. Tell him you want to be together and he'll sing at the top of his lungs that you're his girl. Tell him you're ready to get married tomorrow and he'll buy you a ring tonight. He'd do anything you wanted, the imprint and his wolf would make him. He can't say no to you kid. Just know that once you go through those stages there's no going back."

"That's… that's a lot to take in." We stopped in front of Billy's house and I took a deep breath. "Thanks for telling me Leah. Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends." She answered.

"Don't tell Paul about this conversation please." I asked. It was obvious that he didn't want me to know this much about imprinting and I didn't want him to know I knew.

"Sure sure." She answered before running up the wheelchair ramp and into Billy's house. I walked home and spent the night watching tv with Quala, but my mind was a thousand miles away.

**Y.C.F.M** {the next day}

"_Hello Mrs. Day this is Darren White calling on the behalf of Cook County's Children's Protection Services. I was your granddaughter's caseworker in Chicago and was the man who made you aware of her abuse. I'm calling to inform you that Lissa Montgomery's trial date has been set and is approaching soon. We were wondering about your granddaughter's interest in testifying against her in court. Please call me or the Department of Children and Family Services as soon as you can with any questions or decisions that you have."_

I hit replay on the answering machine and listened to the message again before dialing the man's number.

"_Darren White speaking."_

"How soon is soon?" I asked.

"_Um, who is this?" _

I rolled my eyes. "Madison Montgomery, you called Quala Day earlier and left a voicemail. You said Lissa's court date was soon. Again I ask- How soon is soon?"

"_Oh, hello Ms. Montgomery. How have you been?"_

"I've been fucking peachy. Now answer the question." I began tapping my foot impatiently.

He let out a heavy sigh_. "Your mother's date has been set three weeks from tomorrow. Michael Anderson's is a few days after hers. I know when we last spoke you expressed interest in testifying against Mrs. Montgomery and Mr. Anderson. Is that something you'd still be willing to do?" _

"Yes absolutely."

"_We'll have to speak to your legal guardian for permission. You should be well into your summer vacation when the trials begin so that won't be an issue. And we'll happily reimburse your expenses. When would be a good time for me to call your grandmother?"_

"Quala's usually here during the weekends. She volunteers at Forks Hospital and the La Push Health Center during weekdays and sometimes on week nights. She should be here tomorrow morning though. You can call her then." I answered while eyeing Quala's volunteer schedule that was posted on the fridge.

"_Alright. I'll call tomorrow and make arrangements for your stay. Thank you for your cooperation Ms. Montgomery."_

"Hey wait a minute. If Lissa is let go... Would she gain custody of me again and I'd have to move back to Chicago?" I asked in a small voice.

"_She's already pled guilty of drug abuse and has been given her sentence for that offense. So for the time she serves that sentence you'd be under the custody of your grandmother. But if she is found not guilty on the child abuse charges she has every right to petition for your custody after she serves her time for drug abuse. Though it'd be highly unlikely that she'd receive custody of you if you've expressed to the judge that you're very happy in Washington. And its even more unlikely that a judge or jury will find her not guilty. You don't have anything to worry about Madison."_

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me.

"Thanks. I'll see you in three weeks." I hung up the phone a slid to the kitchen floor. Three weeks that seemed so close and so far at the same time. I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually my cellphone vibrated in my back pocket. It was a text from Tyler.

**I'll be there to pick you up in a twenty minutes. Wear something cute.**

I rushed up to my room and changed out of my shorts and my father's old college tee before running to the bathroom and blow drying my hair until it was strait. I put on a dark green mini skirt with black knee high socks, a white form fitting t-shirt, and a thin black leather jacket. I wrote Quala a note telling her that I was with Tyler and to check the voicemail. I locked the house up and I put my keys and cell phone in my jacket pocket while I sat on the porch waiting for Tyler. He showed up about twenty minutes late with Matty and another guy in the car.

"Hey there's my baby girl!" He shouted out the window. "Hey come on girl, get in the car. We've got places to be."

I hurried to the car and crawled in the back seat next to the stranger who couldn't have been older than 25.

"She's pretty sexy isn't she Jason? And young too. A freshman, only 14." The stranger looked me over while I sat as far away from him as I could get. His stare made my skin crawl and the way he stayed silent made me feel uncomfortable. "Madison this is my brother and you remember Matty my best friend. Say hi."

"Hi Matty it's nice to see you again. And hello Jason it's a pleasure to meet you," I lied.

"She listens. That's good." Jason's voice was deep and I thought it matched his short, but stocky appearance perfectly. Tyler turned around a beamed at me before pulling off and his smile made me forget that his brother's statement was offensive. He seemed almost proud of me. I couldn't remember the last time I felt like someone was proud of me.

"We're going to see a friend of mine in Port Angeles. He's having something like a party and I wanted you to come since I wasn't in school today. I wanted to see you." Tyler explained.

When we got the the party all the boys went off in different directions leaving me at the front door alone. Matty went off to a corner where several burnouts were smoking heavily and Jason grabbed a random girl and took her upstairs. Tyler went to the kitchen and I found an unoccupied corner where I sat playing on my phone. After an hour I became restless from sitting in the same place and I was bored so I went to go look for my boyfriend. I found him in a bedroom underneath a tiny brunette that rode him like there was no tomorrow. Matty sat in a chair watching the couple. I tried to sneak out the room, but Jason snuck up behind me and grabbed me before I could leave.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I started to kick and wiggle, I felt him harden underneath me. At the sound of his brothers voice Tyler looked up and saw me. He threw the girl off of him and pulled his pants up from around his ankles.

"Put her down Jason! You're scaring her," Ordered Tyler. Jason set me on my feet and I went to run out of the room. I did not like being stuck in a small space with three men. Before I could get out the room Jason grabbed my arm and prevented me from escaping. "Alright thanks I got her." Tyler was fully dressed now and replaced Jason's hand with his own. He dragged me to an empty bathroom and locked the door behind him. I tried to push past him, but he stood firmly in front of the door.

"Look I get why you're mad." He slurred.

"Oh I hardly doubt that." I said before sitting on the closed toilet set. I figured I could wait him out. He was obviously drunk and eventually he would get tired of this conversation.

"No no no no no. I do get it. You just saw me fucking some other girl and I would be mad if you fucked someone else too, but Madison I am a man and I have needs you know? You're not really taking care of me and I haven't pushed you not once so it's only fair that I get what I need somewhere else right? And I wasn't even planning on fucking anybody tonight because you're my girl and you were here. And I wanted you to meet my brother and I think he likes you. Do you get it?"

"You're so wasted," I sighed. "Listen I don't care who you fuck Tyler, but I damn sure don't want to see it! Now move." I got up from my seat and tried to push him again.

He laughed and grabbed my shoulders. He picked me up and turned me so my back was against the door and one of his thighs was between my legs. "Look at you. You're sexy when you're mad. You're so small and your face gets so red and you tried to push me. It got me so hard you trying to yell at me. Like you could do anything about it."

His hand snuck underneath my skirt and I froze for a second before I started squirming. Those knots that I felt when Tyler kissed me were back and I analyzed the feeling as he rubbed me roughly between my legs. He started kissing the side of my neck and I was reminded of my situation.

"Tyler stop." I said pushing at his shoulders. He continued his ministrations and I raised my voice this time. "Tyler I said stop!"

"Yeah that's it. When you yell at me just like that. You're like a little red kitten." He nuzzled my neck and used one of his hands to squeeze my chest hard. "It's fine kitten you've got to give your man something. Let me do this, we aren't even doing anything."

"Tyler no!" I clawed at him and pulled his hair hard. I pounded my fist against his back, but from this angle I couldn't reach much of him. His body was pressed up against mine and I couldn't move anything but my hands and arms.

"Oh my kittens got claws hmmm." He grabbed me underneath my thighs and wrapped my legs around his waist. "Do you want this kitten?"" He asked as he ground himself into me. He started to unbutton his pants with one hand.

There was a loud knock on the door at the same time that my phone went off in my pocket. Tyler was startled enough to jump back, giving me the opportunity to move and open the bathroom door. Jason stood outside of the bathroom with a shit eating grin on his face.

"I've got to be home in a couple of hours or my probation officer is gonna shit a brick."

"Alright man, you know where Matty is?" Tyler slurred.

"Mhm he just finished with that girl you had. Give me your keys I'm not letting you drive me anywhere." Tyler handed his keys to his brother and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, leading me to the car. I tried to shake him off, but he just pulled me closer. Jason drove, Matty sat in the front and Tyler fell asleep in the back next to me. I checked my phone while Jason drove and saw that I had a missed call from a number I didn't recognize. After an hour and a half of Jason and Matty making crude comments we arrived to Quala's house and I saw something surprising on my front steps.

"Who the fuck is that?" Asked Jason.

I jumped out of the car without answering him and walked up to the guy on my porch. "Hey Paul."

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><p><strong><em><strong><em>Ok I forgot to do my shout outs up top because it was getting kind of lengthy. To Wikked who gave me some awesome constructive criticism, thank you I really appreciate it. And thanks to you guys who followed andor favorited me/this story. Now time for questions!_**_**

**_What the flying fuck is Paul doing there and why didn't he explain the full depth of imprinting to Madison? _**

**_Tyler and his band of creepy losers are definitely out of here... Right? _**

**_Oh and court in three weeks!? We'll get to see Shay again. I've missed her quirkiness. _**

**_What is our Maddy Cakes to do?_**

**_And was that at the end to much to handle? I didn't think so, but let me know. And again sorry for the length of the chapter. It simply couldn't be split up._**


	17. Chapter 17

**[A/N] See you guy's at the bottom of this horribly long chap. **

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><p>"Hey Paul."<p>

"Hi Madison," He said looking past me and into the car with a menacing glare. I turned and saw Jason trying to be as intimidating as Paul and failing. Paul let out a low growl behind me and I watched as Jason scrambled to pull the car out of the driveway.

"Way to be subtle Wolf." I said cheekily before making my way up the stairs to unlock the front door. He followed me into the kitchen and watched me while I pulled out food from the fridge. After I made us both sandwiches he spoke.

"You're ok." It wasn't a question, but I nodded my head anyway. "What happened tonight?"

"What do you mean?" I asked with falsified innocence.

"Don't bullshit me Maddison. You know I know something happened, what made you so uncomfortable that I felt it?"

I chewed on my thumb nail struggling to come up with a decent lie. After years of practice deceit was something that had come easy to me, but with Paul it was hard to do. I blamed the imprint and decided to settle for a half truth. "Tyler hooked up with some girl tonight and I saw them together."

Paul frowned at me with a mouth full of food. "He cheated on you? While you were _there_?" I nodded. "Fucking asshole that guy is."

"Yeah, So you came to check on me? That's all?" I asked.

"I wouldn't have had to come over if you answered your phone. When you didn't pick up I got nervous. I would have came to you, but the feeling passed quickly enough that I thought you were ok. I just came over to make sure you weren't hurt. Hey do me a favor?"

"Hmm?" I felt my heart melt a little that he was worried enough to check on me and go through all that trouble to get my number. People usually didn't care that much about me.

"Be careful around Jason. He just got out of prison for sexual assault and I don't want anything like that to happen to you." I frowned, but nodded in agreeance. What would he say if he knew that something like that had happened to me for years. I watched him while he inhaled the rest of his sandwiches. He stood up when he finished and patted his stomach. "Thanks for the food, I'll leave now that I know you're all good."

I watched him walk out the kitchen and thought about what Leah said to me last night. She mentioned that we didn't spend anytime together and that was true. I realized that I knew nothing about Paul. _The moment you express that you want more than what you guys are doing he'll be all over it. _It was time to put that to the test.

"Hey Paul?" I called out before he could make it to the front door. He poked his head back in the kitchen with an eyebrow raised curiously. "Stay?"

A slow smile spread across his handsome face. "I'd love to."

I led him to the living room and we sat on opposite sides of the couch. I pulled my boots off and placed my sock clad feet in his lap. He smiled at me before running his fingertips up and down my feet and calves. "What's your favorite color?"

"It changes from red to green depending on how you wear your hair." He answered honestly.

"Favorite Movie?"

"The Karate Kid, but it has to be the first one. The rest suck."

"Favorite food?"

"Hamburgers."

"Who was your first crush?"

"Rachel Black, Jake's older sister. Rebecca was just as pretty, but Becca was a fucking bitch." I rolled my eyes at his comment about Rebecca, but understood his attraction to Rachel if she was as pretty as Jacob was handsome.

"Favorite childhood memory?"

I continued to ask him questions and he answered them all seriously and truthfully, sometimes pausing to think long and hard about his answers. We stayed up late and he never once complained about me asking trivial things. Quala came out of her room once to get a glass of water, she saw us sitting there talking and instead of throwing him out she shrugged and went back to her room. Eventually I started yawning every two minutes and Paul decided that it was time for me to go to bed.

"Before I go, do you want to do something tomorrow? Like hangout after school."

I smiled at him. _Just know that once you go through those stages there's no going back. _Leah had said that too. I don't think I ever wanted to go back to rarely seeing Paul.

"Yeah," I answered. "That'd be great."

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><p>I walked to school the next day. Tyler wasn't there and I didn't text him, but I did wear his necklace in case I needed to give it back to him. Honestly I was hoping that he wouldn't show up because I was avoiding him. La Push High was small enough that steering clear of someone was impossible. I ate lunch with Ellie and Stephanie who gave me the 411 on everything happening in their lives. I was happy that they hadn't iced me out after I practically forgot about them with pack and Tyler drama. After school I found Paul at my locker and we walked to Emily's together. He introduced me to the wolves that I didn't know well and to their imprints.<p>

"This is Sam, he's the alpha of the pack and his imprint Emily who you accused of having stockholm syndrome. This is Jared and Kim, Kim's got Jared by the balls." He smirked and dodged a pillow that was thrown by Kim who was sitting on Jared's lap. "We were the first three guys to phase and are the most highly ranked. Which basically means that we are more badass than any other wolves in the pack."

I nodded in agreement. While Jared seemed a lot more tranquil than any of the other wolves Sam gave me an animalistic vibe. If I could believe that anyone was a werewolf it was him. After Paul and I talked with the imprinted couples Sam and Jared left. Kim took her leave when Jared did and Emily claimed that she had grocery shopping to do.

"Quil will be here to drop Claire off in a little while, but then he should be heading out to patrol so you guys don't get too crazy," She said with a wink as she walked out the door. Paul rolled his eyes at her retreating figure, but I managed to catch a fond grin on his handsome face.

"What do you want to do?" He asked.

"Does Emily have any board games around here?" He nodded in response to my question and went upstairs to return with three boxes. Candyland, HedBanz, and to my surprise, a Monopoly Junior Disney Princess Edition game.

"They're Claire's." He said gruffly.

"Who's this famous Claire?" I asked while setting up the Candyland board game.

"Emily's niece. She's a spoiled brat between Quil and pack and her parent's and Emily. I don't think anyone's said no to that girl in her entire life."

"Sounds like my type of girl," I snickered. "How old is she?"

"Five. You'll like her, everyone likes her." He picked up the yellow piece and I chose the red. Because I was the youngest and the girl and the imprint I got to go first. I pulled an orange card which meant that I could luckily skip through the Rainbow Track. He pulled a red card and grumbled when he only got to move one space.

"I used to play this with my dad when I was younger. He was bad at it too." I laughed while moving up six spaces thanks to the purple card I picked. Paul beamed at me despite my playful insult. "What?"

"Nothing," He said. "I've just never heard you talk about your parents. Is he as awesome as I am?"

I rolled my eyes. I had never spoken openly about my dad with anyone, but Paul made me want to tell him things. "He was even better than you."

"Was?"

"He died when I was four. I was too young to remember a lot of things about him, but I know what he looked liked and I know he was the nicest person I ever met. And I know he was almost as bad at boardgames as you." Paul made a mewling sound in the back of his throat. I hadn't heard him make the sound before as a human, but I knew that it meant he was distressed by what I said about my father. I waved my hand in dismissal.

"It was along time ago." I drew his next card for him before he could ask me anything else. I laughed hard when the card came up yellow and he was only allowed to move two spaces. He quite literally growled. I ended up winning and Paul was accusing me of cheating when Quil and a young girl walked in the front door. They both seemed upset, but she stopped pouting when she saw me and Paul playing her game on the livingroom floor.

"Oh! Can I play?!" She asked excitedly before running over and plopping down on Paul's lap.

"You can play after you do your homework Claire, go upstairs in your room until you're done." Quil answered. She looked like she wanted to protest, but instead she nodded her head reluctantly and trudged up the stairs. Quil sighed. "Do you think I was too hard on her? She did have a rough day at school."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. Paul on the other hand snorted and started shuffling the deck of Candyland cards. "Alright, alright I get it. I wasn't too hard on her. I've got to head out for patrol. Look after Claire while I'm out you guys."

Paul grunted and we started another game as Quil left. Every now and then he would tilt his head to the side and close his eyes for a few seconds before continuing the game. When I asked what he was doing he explained to me that he was listening to Claire to make sure that she was ok. Then he told me about their heightened senses and body temperatures. Before he could finish there was a strangled howl outside and I jumped, but he just looked out the window curiously.

"I need to go see what that was about. I'll be back in no more than twenty minutes." He said before running out the back door, pulling his t-shirt off as he left. I stared at his muscled back before sighing and walking up the stairs to the pink room that assumed was hers. That boy had a beautiful back. That boy had a beautiful everything. I found Claire sprawled out on her floor with two books in front of her. She was mouthing words while chewing on her pencil. I looked at the one she wasn't focused on and saw that she had completed her math homework correctly. She was a pretty little thing with traditional Native American features. Dark eyes, full and straight black hair, russet skin and thick, long eyelashes. Her face was round like most children, but she seemed rather tall for her age. She kicked her legs happily and I noticed a large bruise on her right leg.

"You're Madison right? Paul's imprint?" She asked. I nodded and she beamed at me before scooting over to where I sat on the floor. She stuck her hand out and I shook it.

"I'm Claire, Quil's imprint." She said proudly. I almost choked as I swallowed my own spit.

"What?" I asked quietly. She tilted her head in confusion and repeated herself. How could this little girl be Quil's imprint? He was practically a grown man. She went back to her reading and a million thoughts flew through my head. The way she had sat on Paul's lap and how Quil had gravitated towards the girl with every move she made. How he stared longingly at the stairs when she was sent to do her homework. The bruise on her leg…

"Hey Claire?" I asked cheerily. She hmmed in response. "Do you spend a lot of time with Quil and the guys?"

She nodded happily.

"What do you guys usually do?" I said casually.

"We play games and he gives me ice cream and piggyback rides."

"Where does Quil sleep? Does Quil or any of the other guys ever sleep in the bed with you?" This time I couldn't keep all the nerves out of my voice and she looked up at me curiously.

"Like cuddling?" She asked around the pencil in her mouth.

"Yeah, or you know. Anything else?" I twirled my hair and shrugged so she wouldn't think I was too interested in her answer. I knew how to work this conversation.

"Mhm, everyone loves to cuddle," She nodded.

"What happened to your leg?" I asked, switching tactics. The little girl frowned at me and bite her lip hard.

"I'm not supposed to tell anybody…"

"It's ok I won't-"

"MADISON GET DOWN HERE PLEASE!" Paul called.

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><p><strong>[AN] A horrible place to leave it, but geez these things get longer and longer. I didn't want to cut any Paul/Maddy bonding time just for the sake of a shorter chapter. So Sorry about that guys. But on the bright side I've got this chapter lined out to be about 23 or 24 chapters which isn't to bad in my not so humble opinion. **

**QUESTIONS: What does Paul have to say? What happened to Claire's leg that she can't say anything? Surely we don't think Madisons' line of thoughts could be anywhere _near _true, right? **

**SHOUTOUTS- Thanks to Wikked and Tabby, you guys rock socks. And thanks to those who favorite/follow. May the odds be ever in your favor. **


	18. Chapter 18

**[A/N] **

**IMPORTANT STUFF: I made up everything in the shaman scene but the cedar bark headband. I tried to be as respectful as I could to the Quileute tribe. I did some research and for reasons that I think are obvious I couldn't find anything on Imprint based ceremonies. If anyone is offended don't be afraid to let me know and I'll tweak anything that I have too. This chapter is long, but an easy read so I'll see you at the bottom. **

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><p>I didn't flinch when Quil wailed on and on about how he didn't understand why people kept assuming that he could hurt Claire in anyway. I didn't shudder at the hurt look on his and Paul's face when I explained that it was peculiar for a little girl to be surrounded by teenaged boys all the time. I didn't quiver when Quil growled that no one was taking Claire from him. I didn't shy away from telling him that it was strangely possessive behavior like that that made people a little wary of his relationship with the little girl.<p>

"Why did you even assume that? Did something happen to you?"

I did hesitate when Paul asked that.

Before he could jump at the opportunity to drill me his cell phone rang. I successfully held back my sigh of relief when he answered it. While Paul took his call I listened to Quil explain that a group of girls at school had taken a disliking to Claire. The girls were picking on the poor girl because she was Makkah and therefore different from the rest of them. I apologized to Quil even though I didn't mean it and he was satisfied enough to stop bitching.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Paul asked. I shook my head no and he went back to his conversation over the phone. Soon after he hung up and gave me a dazzling smile. "We're going to Old Quil's, he's gonna look at our imprint bond."

Quil went back to "patrolling" after we assured him that we wouldn't leave Claire in the house alone. We left when Emily got back from the store and even I had to laugh at her disappointed. According to her we were supposed to be making babies on her kitchen floor when she walked in. Paul gave me a piggyback ride to Old Quil's house that was on the other side of the reservation. When we got there we found the elder in his backyard where a small bonfire was lit. Red, green, blue and yellow flames danced with each other to the sounds of the firewood cracking. Old Quil sat in front of the fire with his legs folded underneath him, eyes closed. His face was covered in painted symbols and on his head he wore a simple headband that looked similar to a bird's nest. Paul told me it was Cedar wood and that the soft words Old Quil was singing were in Quileute and allowed the shaman to enter the spirit world where all their ancestors went after death. The elder's voice grew stronger and louder and the flame licked higher and brighter. From beside me Paul shuddered and whispered something in his tribe's language.

"Can you feel the magic here?" He asked me with reverence in his eyes. I nodded because I could feel something wrap around me that was almost palpable despite the fact that I couldn't see it. I felt fingertips dance across my cheek with feather light touches. On my own fingertips I felt soft fur brushing past me so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it. I heard voices on the wind whispering words I didn't understand, but calmed me nevertheless. I felt the warmth from the fire on my skin even though I wasn't close enough. I felt the earth move beneath my feet as she breathed in the heavy air around us. Next to me Paul glowed with tranquility and pride and pure happiness. From Paul the wolf I felt the need to run with brothers that neither one of us had ever met. Brothers that had fallen long before either of us were born. From him I felt strong and swift paws dig into the earth because he _wanted _to run, not because he _needed _to. There was no threat here and for a fleeting second he pretended that there was no threat anywhere to him or his people or his home. From him I felt the love of the pack and the feeling of _belonging_- a feeling that I had never truly felt since my father's death. From Paul the man came a feeling of content. A feeling of pride of being wolf of being pack and of being Quileute.

I know it was silly of me, but I felt like Pocahontas. I was ready to paint with the colors of the wind and run the hidden pine trails of the forest with my Wolf.

"That's a completely different tribe pale face." Paul teased. I opened my mouth to speak, but cut off my retort when Old Quil grew silent. The colors of the fire reflected in his dark eyes and I almost shuddered at the power that I had never seen within the old man.

"Step forward Wolf and Imprint." He spoke in English and I was very grateful for it as I stepped closer to the fire. He turned his eyes to Paul as he stood, "Are you willing Wolf?"

"I am willing Shaman." Paul answered. Old Quil acknowledged his willingness with a nod while he pulled a smoldering twig from the fire. He swiped the ash from the tip of the cedar wood with the pad of his thumb. He began drawing symbols on Paul's face and forearms with the ash. When he finished he stepped away from the younger man and tossed the wood into the center of the fire. A loud crack sounded and Old Quil looked at me.

"Are you willing Imprint?"

"I am willing Shaman." I said, repeating Paul's words. The shaman nodded at me in approval and duplicated the same procedure for me that he did for Paul. When my stick was returned to the fire Old Quil moved Paul and I a few feet away from each other. He handed me a mug and instructed me to drink half of it. I did what he said and was relieved to find that it wasn't as awful as I anticipated. He took the mug from me and had Paul drink the rest. Paul frowned at the taste and handed it back to the shaman.

"What was that, it tasted like mud water." He muttered.

"That is because it was," Paul gagged a little and I shrugged. Old Quil's smirk faded as he continued talking. "In a time before your's and before mine there was no need for the use of the earth and rain to touch the minds of others. The spirits were happy to guide the shaman in the spirit world, but the spirits are more than angry with our people today. We as a whole have lost ourselves in a world that was never meant to be ours- even those such as you and me wolf. You and I are the history of our people, but we are considered legends. No one turns to the spirits for healing anymore. No one turns to the wolf for protection. We don't even speak the language of our ancestors regularly. But that is neither here nor there in this moment. Repeat my words."

He spoke slowly in Quileute and some of the words fell off of my tongue awkwardly, but eventually we got through the chant. I was told to stand still as Paul slowly circled around me, the cycle growing wider and further. Old Quil watched with droopy lids still chanting softly to himself. Over time Paul circled as wide as he could before spiraling back towards me while retracing his steps. His return to my side was much quicker than his departure. At the end of the rotation the shaman stopped chanting and whispered something in Quileute. When all was done he handed Paul a damp towel that he used to wipe the ash symbols off my face. The he did the same to himself. The elder lead us towards the fire and he sat on the ground with legs crossed. Paul grabbed my hand and pulled me near the fire and then down to the ground across from Old Quil. I sat next to Paul and he kept his hold on my hand.

"It is done." Old Quil said cryptically. Paul and I looked at him for all of three seconds before I lost my patience.

"And… Did all that magic show you what's wrong with my pull. It's Paul's fault isn't it? I knew it, just tell me how to fix it and we'll be on our way. It's important that I know where my best friend is at all times if he knows where I am. It's only fair don't you think? And-" I was cut off by a massive hand covering the entire bottom half of my face.

"Sorry Old Quil. What did you see?" Paul asked as he snatched his hand away from my face. I may or may not have licked his palm.

"The wolf chooses his imprint and the man has no choice in the matter. However the imprint can choose wolf, or mate, or not. It is important that the imprint knows her choices," He gave Paul a pointed look. "_All _of her choices."

The young wolf blushed and mumbled, "She knows enough."

"The imprint bond is different with every wolf and imprint. Some are connected to their imprints with a single string as thin and as flimsy as floss. Others are bound together by a million steel cables. These bonds are a spiritual thing that cannot be seen in the physical world so I took to the spirit world. There I gained wisdom from the shamans that were before me and the shamans that will come after me. I viewed your bonds and I tested their strength. I have come to a conclusion and I have the answers to the questions you ask.

Unfortunately Imprint, it is not Paul that is to blame for the rift in your bond. His bond to you is strong and stretches far to accommodate to you. His bond is strong miles away from your side and you will find the same strength when he stands next to you and holds your hand. It does not waiver in the slightest. While the wolf is completely tied to the imprint the imprint is not tied to the wolf- not until she chooses to be. Your bond to Paul is thin and fragile. While his held firm with distance your's stretched even thinner. You have not chosen wolf or mate or both and until you choose wolf your bond to Paul will continue to weaken, but it will never break. That is the way of the imprint."

"I don't understand. I'm here and I've decided to spend more time with Paul. So I did chose wolf, didn't I?"

"The wolf is a very possessive animal and he does not share outside of his pack. You have not chosen wolf or mate or both. You've chosen another." The Shaman's eyes dropped to my chest and I looked down self consciously. I noticed that my necklace had slipped from underneath the neck of my t shirt at the same time that Paul's hand slipped from my own. The name _Tyler _laid across my chest. I looked up and met Paul's eyes and I tried desperately to come up with some kind of excuse. For a moment he held my gaze, but it wasn't long before he lowered his eyes and looked away.

"If you want to feel Paul the way he feels you all you have to do is choose him. It is not as difficult as you may think Imprint. The wolf is strong and fast and hunts well. The man is caring and fiercely loyal and can be considered handsome to some. There are worse wolves that you could have been paired with," The old man said while he rose to his feet and stretched. "But do not tell my grandson I said that."

With those words the shaman left us. I sat and watched Paul shuffle around the backyard glumly as he cleaned up what the elder had left behind. His shoulders were hunched and his eyebrows drawn down. I couldn't quit gadge the emotion he was feeling, but whatever it was it wasn't strong enough to penetrate the apparently weak bond I had with him. After a minute or two his sulking bothered me enough to speak.

"You knew I was with Tyler. Everyone knows."

He nodded solemnly, "I know and I get that and yeah I'll admit that I'm a little jealous. It's fine that you have a boyfriend, even if that boyfriend is a jerk, it's just different now that he's fucking branded you. Because at first you were kind of mine you know? We argued and we cursed each other, you'd hit me and hurt yourself and I'd laugh because it was fucking hilarious seeing you hop around like that. You used to always come to me and pick fights. Then you started talking to Leah and hanging out with that douche bag and I didn't see you anymore. And then yesterday you wanted to hang out and then we did it again today. It just felt like you were mine again. But then I see that fucker _branded _you and all of a sudden it doesn't feel that way anymore."

He shrugged and scratched the back of his neck as he poured water over the fire. "It's whatever. Let's just blame it on the wolf being pissed that he's losing to an annoying fucking prick that ignores you whenever he's mad."

I blinked.

"Yeah I notice shit like that. How he texts you every thirty minutes, you practically live on that cell phone. He didn't show up to school and he didn't text you at all today. I know you were trying to be sneaky when you kept checking your phone so I didn't say anything."

He shook.

"And you know what? That fucker cheated on _you_ last night. How a guy could risk losing a girl as hot as you, I don't know. He should be groveling at your feet and begging for forgiveness because you're fucking _worth _it. I can't believe you'd ever go for a jerk like that. He's nowhere near as buff as me or as tall or as good looking. I'm closer to your age than he is. I'm probably smarter. I save fucking lives on a regular bases- that practically makes me a superhero. And I look _way _better than he does. I'll actually argue with you when I'm mad at you because I know thats the kind of shit you like."

I blinked again. He started chucking the now damp firewood past the tree line and into the woods. After every hurl I heard a resounding _thump. _

"And I know that you say you don't like to be called Maddy, but you secretly do. You act all mad and huffy when I say it around anyone, but when its just you and me you _love _when I call you that. I don't know why, but I know it makes you happy so I'll call you Maddy everyday for the rest of my life if it'll make your eyes light up."

"My dad used to call me that." I had said it so quietly that I didn't he would have heard me, but he did hear me and I melted as a look of understanding flashed through his eyes. We stared at each other for a long time and as he started to speak my phone rang and the moment was lost.

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><p><strong>[AN] Effin Paul and Old Quil talking so much. The Shaman scene was _not,_ and I repeat,_ NOT_ supposed to take that long. Honestly I didn't plan for Paul to confess that much (or confess anything at all to be honest) but he was determined to get it on paper... er, screen? It didn't effect my plot for him to let some stuff slide so I let him do his thing. **

**HEY GUYS!: I had a birthday this weekend so give me a wonderful present by reviewing, if it helps to say that I didn't get anything...**

**SHOUTOUTS: Thanks to Wikked who liked my Rachel plug. FictionAddiction734 who is new to reading this fiction and was sweet in their review. And finally Miami12 who said "sticky wicket" and made me giggle. Thanks for all the follows/favorites/alerts. **

**QUESTION: Who's calling? It's probably not who you guys think it is.**


	19. Chapter 19

**[A/N] ****_WARNING_****: Madison struggles with something that a lot of abused children struggle with in this chapter. Also some violence and heavy swearing, has anyone else noticed that Madds has been cursing less? Also this chapter is kind of choppy. Jumping from scene to scene and what not. Andddd another ****_WARNING _****for something that might make you guys a little uncomfortable at the end. Also paragraphs... yeesh. **

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><p>"You're leaving?"<p>

"He needs to talk to me."

"Yeah... I heard."

"You knew-"

"That you were with him. I know, I got it."

"Would you hate me if I left?"

"I couldn't hate you if I tried. I'll call you tomorrow or something."

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><p>I still think about the look on Paul's face when I walked away, it did break my heart after all and I had never had my heart broken before. His face was stoic- his jaw locked tight, his forehead smooth. But the emotion in his eyes pierced my soul and I think it pierced his too. I didn't know what the emotion was, I had never felt it before, but I know it cut through me like a double edged sword. It burned him like hellfire. And when I walked away from him to meet Tyler at my house I almost stumbled as the feeling intensified.<p>

I wish I hadn't left.

When I got home I found Tyler on my doorstep, sitting in the exact same spot that I had found Paul in the night before. Paul who had been worried about me. Paul who I had just left. Tyler followed me into the house and led me towards my bedroom. _For privacy,_ he said. I shuddered when he closed the door, memories from the night before flooding my mind. Spending time with Paul made me forget why I wasn't spending my time with Tyler like I usually did. Thoughts of Paul were drowned out by the memory of Tyler's lips against my neck and his hands wrapped around my thighs. I felt a wave of disgust flow through me- how could I let him get the better of me? I had fought men twice his size and twice his age. I didn't always win, but I _always _put up more of a fight than I did last night. Again I shuddered and this time it didn't go unnoticed by Tyler.

"I'm sorry," He sighed. "I know you probably don't want anything to do with me, but I am sorry and it wasn't my fault. I was drunk- I mean I was fucking wasted. I didn't know what I was doing, I think that girl might've put something in my drink. And I was so sexually repressed, but I'm not blaming that on you or anything even if it is your fault. So do you forgive me?"

I thought about it. He was drunk and I knew from Lissa that alcohol could make you act like a different person. Lissa wasn't so bad when she was sober, she usually just ignored me or had me run errands. When Tyler was sober and not mad at me he payed more attention to me than even Paul did. And I really liked when he payed attention to me, he always watched me and did little things for me. On the rare occasions that we weren't together he'd text me constantly to ask me what I was doing and who I was with. He cared and I really couldn't fault him for one drunken mistake, could I? Wouldn't that be extremely bitchy of me? And it was my fault that he was sexually repressed even if he kind of wasn't placing the blame on me. I knew that men needed a lot of attention sexually or they would seek out the closest female they could find. If Lissa had taken better care of her men then they wouldn't have even looked at me, right? I had heard that logic from a few of her boyfriends and standing here with Tyler it made sense.

"I forgive you. As long as it doesn't happen again." His responding smile was nice for a boy that wasn't Paul. What wasn't nice was the obvious anger in his eyes as he read a text message a few minutes later. It also wasn't nice when he grabbed my arm and slammed me against my bedroom wall hard enough for my head to dent it.

"You're fucking Lahote, you little fucking slut!"

That wasn't very nice either. I pushed him away from me and automatically touched the back of my head. It was throbbing, but thankfully not bleeding. "Who the fuck is Lahote?"

I saw him ball his hand up and moved out of his way right before his fist could connect with my face. The little shit was aiming for my nose. "Don't play stupid you worthless piece of shit, you're fucking Paul. Is that why I'm not getting any? Because you're sucking that no good son of a bitch's di-"

"Watch your fucking mouth," I said after busting his fat lip. He could say whatever he wanted about me, but he wouldn't talk about my wolf. "I'm not fucking Paul and you need to keep your hands to yourself."

"Wrong move bitch." He wrapped his hand up in my hair and yanked me down to my knees. I tried wiggling out of his hold, but each time I moved I could feel my hair being ripped out. I didn't want him over me, but I wanted a bald spot less. He took advantage of his height and kneed me in the stomach. I toppled over and Tyler yanked me down further onto the ground so that I was on my hands and knees. "You're _mine_. You belong to _me_. I fucking _own _you Montgomery. Now say it. Who do you belong to?"

I spat on his feet and told him to go fuck himself. That earned me a size 11 foot grinding into my back and I bit my lip at the pain.

"Ah ah ah, Kitten. Who do you belong to," He asked again. Pushing all of his weight on top of me.

I sighed in defeat. Like I said... I didn't always win.

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><p><strong>(THREE WEEKS LATER.)<strong>

I started wearing long sleeves and baggy clothes again. They were nice clothes though Quala had bought them after all. Tyler believed me when I said I hadn't fucked Paul, but it didn't take much for him to find a reason to hit me. I still hung out with Paul and Tyler knew this so he was smart enough not to hit me in my face. His favorite spot to bruise was my neck. He knew how much I loved wearing my hair up, but he knew I hated the attention of strangers more. When we were at his house he always made me wear my hair in a ponytail so that he could watch the bruises on my neck heal. He watched the pale white skin turn red, then a deep purple, then into ugly yellow splotches until finally it was back to white. Then he'd start the cycle all over again. I started to hate the fact that I healed so quickly. I started to hate the feeling of my long red hair against my neck and I honestly considered chopping it all off. But my red hair was on of the few things that my father had given me that I was able to keep and I refused to cut another part of him out of my life.

The more time I spent with Tyler the less time I spent with Paul. Stephanie and Ellie were no longer considered my friends and I didn't mourn the loss of them, people came and went. I hardly ever saw Brady and Quala. I spent time with Brady when Paul and I hung out with the pack. I saw Quala on the rare nights that I was home early enough for dinner. Those two I did miss, but not as much as I missed Paul. I was allowed to spend time with Paul when Tyler was off doing whatever it was he did in Port Angeles and Seattle, but Paul was distant. It seemed that he was content with being close enough to touch me if he reached his arm out as far as it could go. He didn't want to sit next to me and he hardly ever spoke to me. We often spent our time walking down the beach or sitting in my house watching television. After a few hours of visiting me he'd leave and I wouldn't see him until the next time I texted him to hang out with me. I couldn't even see him at school because summer vacation had started. Some nights he would tell me he was too busy training with the Cullens to hang out. It obviously was a lie because Paul absolutely _hated _the Cullens and I was hurt that he couldn't even think up a better lie to tell me. I was more hurt than I'd liked to admit that he didn't want me anymore.

The less time I spent with Paul the more time I spent at Tyler's house. It wasn't that I wanted to be a Tyler's, it was more like I had nowhere else to go. Quala only reminded me of the up and coming trial and it was hard enough to keep off of my mind without her talking about it everyday. I couldn't blame her though, she'd be seeing her only child for the first time in over a decade. I couldn't go to Emily's house because everyone there acted really strangely around me. Jared practically hated me for not choosing his best friend, Kim was on team Jared no matter what, Emily just smiled awkwardly, the rest of the pack tended to make themselves scarce with the exceptions of Brady and Sam. Brady because we were friends and Sam because, well... it was his house. Even if I hated it a Tyler's I'd rather be at his house than Emily's. Unfortunately Matty or Jason was always present and their leering was enough to make a Playboy bunny feel uncomfortable. But I sucked it up because fuck it, I went where I was wanted.

Even if it was the wrong people that wanted me.

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><p>Tyler was drunk again.<p>

It was never a good thing when Tyler drank. Usually it meant that he'd slap me on the ass a few times or beat me up a little before going off and fucking one of his sluts. He had a thing for white girls- said they bruised better than Natives. I didn't care who he fucked as long as he kept his more than likely diseased dick away from me. Unfortunately tonight he was in the mood for "Irish and bitchy."

Tyler would not stop touching me.

I was faster than Tyler, but he was stronger. He thought it was fun to play cat and mouse. Matty and Jason thought it was fun to cut off all the exists so that I _had _to play with them. I thought that someone was going to get castrated if I got groped one more time.

Tyler cornered me.

I was trapped in his bedroom. The room was small with no windows and he was blocking the door well. I had wrestled and fought with Tyler a lot lately. He thought it was cute when I blacked his eye or busted his lips. He thought it was foreplay. I could never overpower him, but sometimes I could wiggle my way out of his grasp or I could move fast enough for him not to catch me. But that was only sometimes and there was no room in here for me to maneuver, I could only duck and dodge him for so long before he caught me.

Tyler caught me.

Tyler wrapped his arms around my shoulders and threw me face down on his bed. It smelled like sex and alcohol and boy. While Tyler unzipped his pants I rolled off of the bed and onto the floor. I was on my feet quickly, but not quickly enough to make it to the door. Tyler grabbed me by the hair and threw me back onto his bed.

Tyler hit me.

When I was eleven I had obtained a head injury so severe from Lissa's boyfriend that even she took me to the hospital. The doctor told her that I was not allowed to play too roughly because if I were hit hard enough on the left side of my head I could be knocked into a coma. Tyler had once hit me on the left side of my head hard enough that I was dazed for a good thirty seconds. This time he hit me hard enough that I didn't regain focus for a full minute. All he needed was ten seconds.

Tyler was on top of me.

Tyler was on top of me, but thankfully not _inside _of me. He was fondling me roughly, he almost enjoyed bruising my breast as much as he enjoyed bruising my neck. His lips were on mine and he was forcing his tongue into my mouth. I felt sick because even though I had chosen Tyler, I didn't want Tyler. I didn't want Tyler on top of me. I didn't want Tyler touching me. I damn sure didn't want Tyer _inside _of me. I wanted Paul. I wanted Paul who wasn't afraid to curse me out, but would never hit me. I wanted Paul who was bad at board games, but always played them with me whenever I wanted. Paul who did pay attention to me without having to keep tabs on me every waking minute and knew I liked to be called Maddy. And since I wanted Paul and not Tyler I bit Tyler's tongue hard. I tasted blood in my mouth as he jerked away from me. Before he could register what was happening I ran.

Tyler was strong.

But I was _fast_.

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><p><strong>[AN] My second favorite chapter. The next one is my fav though, can you say drama? It's 95% written so it should be up by Tuesday at the latest. Also trial in chapter 20 if anyone else is as excited for that as me. **

**SHOUTOUTS: This is my favorite part of the author's notes.**

** FictionAddiction734, good guess pretty close to who I originally had planned on calling her. **

**Tabby/MissPaulLahote love the new name and she thinks I'm the bomb diggity^-^ **

**And for Maxsmomma- to whom this chapter is dedicated- Thank you so much. I'm very happy that I didn't smack anyone over the head lol. **

**QUESTIONS: What did you guys think? I wrote it in a slightly different style. The rest of the chapters won't be like this (at least not that I've planned), but what was it like? Annoying, amazing, alright? Let me know, I'll see you lot in a few days.**


	20. Chapter 20

As I ran I felt something inside me click into place. I reached up to touch my chest and felt my heart thrumming and beating and alive. I tore off Tyler's necklace and threw it to the forest floor. I was crying and for the first time in a long time I was ok with it. I didn't know if my tears were from the throbbing in my head or from the tightening of my heart. I couldn't see a thing, but that was ok because something was pulling me in the right direction. To safety, to belonging, to _home. _I was running to Paul and the magic of the imprint buzzed inside of me making me feel fuzzy and warm and wanted. I ran for what felt like ages before I stopped behind a small ranch styled home. I walked to the side of the house and felt my entire body heat up when I knocked on the thick glass. It took him awhile, but eventually he slid open the window and poked his head outside.

"Madison… What the hell? Why are you crying, come in." He grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me into his room through the window. "Are you ok? It's three in the morning…"

I didn't answer him, instead I threw my arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me while he made soft hushing sounds in the back of his throat. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he paced around his room until I calmed down.

"Shhh baby, I got you. What happened?"

So I told him and I started at the beginning. I talked quickly and didn't think about the words as they fell out of my mouth. I told him about Lissa and her men. I told him about all the times that I was hungry or cold or left in the dark because of something Lissa didn't buy or pay. I told him about Tyler. I glossed over some stuff, I went into explicit detail about other things, I completely forgot to mention the trial I was leaving for in two days. But that didn't matter because before I could even scratch the surface Paul was shaking dangerously. The tremors tore through his body and he threw me onto his bed.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill all of them." He growled through his tightly clenched teeth. I grabbed at his arm before he could get to the window and tried to yank him away from it. Paul was a lot stronger than me and I only ended up being dragged across the room.

"Paul no!" I whispered loudly, but he ignored me. "Please Paul, stay here with me. I need you here with me."

He stopped so abruptly that I began to fall forwards. Thankfully Paul was fast and he caught me before I could hit the ground. He swooped me up into his arms again and sat on the bed with me cradled against him. He raked his hands through my hair and I managed not to flinch when it hurt the left side of my head. I laid my head on his chest and held him as tightly as I could. I had started crying again- things that I had suppressed or forgotten flitted through my brain so fast that I couldn't even begin thinking about stopping them. I felt his body go rigid beneath me so I sat up, straddled Paul's lap and gave him a curious look.

"I can't forget," I mumbled. My voice scratchy from crying so hard and for so long. "I need you to make me forget Paul, because I forgot how to forget."

"Honey. Maddy," He sighed in frustration. "I don't know how to do that."

"Yes you do because you're mine and I'm yours and you're supposed to help me."

"I don't know what to do-"

The closer I was to him the better I felt so I wanted to be as close to him as physically possible. I leaned up to kiss him and when my lips connected to his he pushed me away.

"No Madison, no." He said and I could see the resolve in his eyes. I ignored him and pressed my lips against his once more. This time I swiped the tip of my tongue against his bottom lip before he moved me. "Maddy no. We can't-"

I cut him off again with another kiss. This one quick and barely a peck.

"_I need you." _My voice sounded desperate and needy to my own ears, but I didn't care. Leah said that he couldn't say no to me and I planned on using that to my full advantage. I needed Paul and this was the only way I knew how to give myself to someone. I stared into his eyes feeling something inside me break down. He groaned in defeat, whatever he saw made him break his walls down too. I crushed my lips against his and he flipped us over with a groan. I wanted him, so I told him that and he gave himself to me.

Inside me I felt something change. My thin bond with Paul grew so thick that it almost consumed me. While my steel chords aligned themselves with Paul's I felt our imprint settle in perfectly. I was his as much as he was mine now. My walls broke down completely and apart of my soul touched his. His weight on top of me made me feel safe. I loved Paul Lahote and it didn't matter how cliche it was to realize it right at this moment. I let my love burn through me fierce and long and when I felt his love for me threw the bond I almost began crying again.

For the first time in forever I felt whole.

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><p>I woke in Paul's bed alone. My pull was stronger than ever and it told me that he wasn't in the house so I dressed quickly in the clothes that I had worn the night before and I hummed merrily as I snuck out of his window. I strolled through the streets of La Push with a small smile plastered on my face despite the fact that I was a little sore. It had been awhile and regardless of the fact that I was his imprint, Paul was not an easy fit. When I realized that I was following my pull to Emily's house my smile grew. Accepting Paul last night meant that I had accepted pack and I put a little more pep in my step at the thought of seeing one of the wolves or imprints. If I was lucky Claire would be there to play Candyland with me and Paul. As I approached the house I heard loud banging noises and voices being raised.<p>

"Calm down Paul we don't understand what you're talking about. What happened with your imprint?" Sam asked. I raised my eyebrow and instead of crashing through the house like usual I walked towards the back door that led from the kitchen to the small porch behind the house. I saw that the kitchen window was open so I sat underneath it and listened. His voice was angry and hard.

"She came to me last night crying and damn near in hysteric. She told me all this shit that I don't think she really meant to tell me. She told me... she told me about all these men that hurt her while her mom pretended that nothing was happening. And it had been happening since she was _eight fucking years old._ She held onto me and said that she needed me. Needed me to make her forget because I was hers and I was supposed to help her. She told me she needed me Sam. She let me in for the first time last night and our bond expanded. My soul touched hers and what I found there... Shes _so _fucked up. She's broken Sam. Then she threw herself at me and said she needed me to make her forget and she kissed me. I couldn't say no because she _needed me._ I didn't want to do that with her, not after she told me what happened to her. She forced me."

I froze when Paul started to tell his packmate about my life in Chicago, it was so painfully obvious that that was a private conversation. But when he said he didn't want me a whimper escaped my lips and I almost broke down from the pain that ripped through my body. He didn't want me because of something I had no control over. I couldn't help my past, it wasn't something that I had chosen and for him to reject me because of it was cruel. I literally bore my soul to him and he had rejected it.

I heard something crash in the house and suddenly he was there in front of me. Paul grabbed me by my elbow and dragged me away from the window. He stood on the opposite side of the small backyard and it seemed to me that he couldn't get far enough away. "You heard that?" He asked. I felt my heart boiling, I wasn't sure if I wanted him to be direct with me or act like I was crazy, but this approach wasn't one I approved of.

I nodded, afraid that I would break down in tears if I opened my mouth. "I'm sorry Maddy, I didn't know what I was saying. I wasn't mad at you. I was mad at the imp-"He stopped himself. "I mean myself. I was mad at myself."

"Because you fucked me," It was more of a statement than a question, but he answered anyway.

"No! God no. I was mad because I wanted to make you feel special, Maddy. I didn't want it to be like any of your other times in any way. I wanted to make sure that I had fixed you first."

"You can't _fix _me Paul!" I screamed loud enough for the sounds in the house to stop. I suspected that the wolves inside were listening and now I knew, but I was too far gone to care. I was also too far gone to tell him that last night was different because he was the first person that I had given myself to. The first person that I ever fell in love with.

"Yes I can Madison. I'm supposed to, it's my job. I'm supposed to fix you and you're supposed to fix me." He sounded sad and defeated. Nothing like the Paul I had grown to know and care for.

"No Paul, you can't fix me because contrary to your belief, I'm not _broken_. I'm a little beat up, a lot bruised and so fucked up, but not broken. I'm bent, not broken." I started to shake as my sobs wracked through me. and I wanted to reach for him, but I couldn't so I settled for holding myself. I wrapped my arms around my chest tightly, trying to keep my heart from falling out of my chest. I don't know how I heard Paul's whimper over my sobs, but I did. He thought that he had done this to me and in a way he did. I didn't care what tribal magic connected us together. If he didn't want me he could have said no, he just wanted to fuck damaged goods and then feel all high and mighty about it afterwards.

He stepped towards me when I doubled over in pain, but I backed away from him. "I'm not broken. I'm not broken. I'm not broken. I'm not broken. I'm not broken," Was my sad and exhausted mantra. I had worked _so _hard to build walls around my heart and soul after my life went to shit and he had slowly chipped them away. And the moment my walls were torn down he blew my fucking heart to pieces.

He strode across the yard that separated us and ignored my hiss when he grabbed me. "I don't need you. Don't need you, don't need you, don't need you." I muttered against his chest as he held me close. I hated how I instantly felt better just by having him touch me.

I felt his chin resting on the top of my head so I knew his jaw was trembling before he let me go. "Don't say that," He begged.

I shook my head and took a small step backwards. "I don't need you, I'm not broken!" I cried in despair. Why did it hurt so fucking much?

"You may not need me. You're right Maddy, you're not broken. But please don't leave, just _please. _Please don't fucking leave me." I forced myself to remember the words he said to his friends, his brothers, his confidants. Leah told me about the pack mind and there was no way he could lie to his pack. It was me that he was lying to and I needed to leave before his words hurt me even more.

I took another step away from him and ran off towards Quala's. He didn't chase me because I would have never made it off of Sam's property if he wanted to catch me, but I was still relieved when I finally made it inside of my room. I locked the door and the window and closed the shades before lying in a heap on my bed. It hurt too much to do anything else, but I managed to turn my sobs into quiet tears. I couldn't erase his words from my memory.

**I didn't want to do that with her... She forced me.**

He was right, I did throw myself at him. How many times did he say no?

**She's damaged...**

Who'd want a girl like me? I told him my past, had shared that part of me with him and it only proved that I had too much baggage.

**Broken...**

I was so fucking broken.

After enough time memories of mean words from Tyler, my mother and all her boyfriends started morphing into Paul's voice. Unworthy. Stupid. Slut...

God, I was an idiot. Of course he didn't want me. I was nothing. The only type of men that could possibly want me were just as broken and fucked up as I was. Most of my mom's boyfriends, boys like Tyler and men like his brother or Matty. That was my future. Those were the type of guys that I was bound to end up with. What was I thinking? All the other imprinted wolves were in serious relationships with their girls and Paul had chosen to be my "friend." He friend zoned me and I was foolish enough to use his wolf and the imprint against him. He never wanted me. Leah had said that once Paul and I moved into a new phase of imprinting that there wasn't any going back. I was going to prove her wrong. I'd never _force _myself on Paul again.

I sleep through the rest of the day in my dark room. The next morning I was woken early by Quala and we were driven to the airport in Port Angeles by Jacob. Quala hadn't told Jake why we were going to the airport, but I was sure he believed it had something to do with the day before. As we left the reservation I heard the sound of painfully familiar howl. I scoffed and Jacob frowned. If Paul wanted to think I was leaving I'd let him. He deserved it.

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><p><strong>[AN] DRAMAMINES. Why can't those two just suck it up and _be _together already? I promise you guys this drama won't last forever. Stick with me for a few more chapters, I promise it won't always be like this. **

**SHOUTOUTS: I didn't thank everyone for the follows/favorites for the last chapter so I'm doing that now. Thank you :D Also thanks for the follow/favs for _this _chapter. (I italicized _a lot_ in this chapter) Especiall because that_ obviously_ made me laugh.**

**for FictionAddiction734, Did Paul save her? I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I like to think she sorta saved herself. Then Paul kind of wrecked it didn't he? But I don't blame him boys are pretty dumb when it comes to wordage. **

**QUESTION: TRIALLLLLLLLLLL! (And more drama, but not as much) Anyone excited? It's gonna be hella fun to write. **


	21. Chapter 21

**[A/N] ****Sorry for the late chapter. I had writer's block, get your tomatoes out. ****Madison has been in Chicago for a few days, but I skipped straight to the trial. _WARNING- _Madison goes a little crazy at the end, it might be a little much for some. **

**Stuff at the bottom. -Bre**

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><p>I felt numb, but at the same time I felt a thousand different emotions lashing through my body. I sat motionlessly in the plastic chair at the Juvenile Courthouse, but my legs ached to bounce up and down against the dull, wood table. I listened to the case being tried before me as if it wasn't my life being discussed, but inside I was on the edge of my seat. Digging my nails into the chair to keep from throwing myself at everyone I disagreed with.<p>

My emotions completely checked out the moment the plane took flight a few days ago, but it was fair to say that in Washington Paul was a jittering, furious mess. I wanted to smirk at that, but smirking would require feeling something and right now the only emotions I was feeling were not my own. I wanted to cut Paul off and bury myself in the numbness. I tried hard to find that place in me that built walls, but it refused to lock Paul out. Just know that once you go through those stages there's no going back. Fucking Leah and her words of wisdom. I bet if she had never told me that I would be able to X Paul out in a matter of seconds. Fucking imprinting.

In the jury box there were six people that would determine Lissa's verdict. An older man with snow white hair, a young woman with chocolate skin, a middle aged female who looked bored to death, a guy in a black suit who kept checking his watch, a man with hair so black it was blue, a man sneaking peeks at his cell phone. These were the people that would determine the outcome of this case.

My lawyer Mr. Wright stood in front of the judge with a confidence that I couldn't even attempt to mimic. He called his first witness to the stand, a man that I recognized as the doctor who prodded at me all night before I was shipped to Washington. The doctor was was sworn in by the bailiff, established as an expert witness and then asked a few questions.

"Doctor Dillimond, what do you know of Madison Montgomery's medical history pertaining to the issues of neglect and child abuse?"

"The patient's medical history shows that up until the age of nine she was taken to the hospital every six months for regular checkups. According to her old pediatrician's notes, Madison was a very clumsy child and her parents often fretted over every bump and bruise she received. Her pediatrician put on record that after asking the mother about a hand shaped bruise on the young girl's thigh, Madison stopped all visits to the hospital completely. There were no requests for her medical files from other hospitals or physicians so there's a distinct possibility that Madison had not received medical attention during that time. The next time Madison was seen at the hospital she was twelve and had been suffering from a critical blow to the left side of her skull which damaged her temporal lobe. The damage was permanent and the effects of such an injury could have been to her behavior, speech, memory, hearing, vision, and/or emotions. Unfortunately we don't know how Miss Montgomery was effected because she did not return for any of the scheduled follow up appointments."

"Thank you Doctor. And what light can you shed on what you've personally found in examining Madison Montgomery?"

"Miss Montgomery received several tests that night including a rape kit. Upon examining Madison I discovered that she had severe bruising to both the hard and soft palate of her mouth which suggested brutally forced oral penetration. She had some minor vaginal tearing and was tested positive for the Sexually Transmitted Infection Chlamydia. The girl was grossly underweight and was on the borderline of being malnutritioned. She also had more obvious ailments such as external bruises covering her body, cuts, scars and other physical maladies."

"In your opinion Doctor Dillamond, does Miss Montgomery's medical history and your own personal examination suggest that she was being physically and/or sexually abused while in the custody of her mother Lissa Montgomery?"

"In my professional opinion, I do believe that the adolescent was being subjected to both physical and sexual abuse as well as neglect."

"Thank you your honor, no further questions."

The doctor was then questioned by the other attorney who argued that my head injury could make it so that I misremembered certain situations. She made it seem that it was possible that I was not completely together mentally and that I was emotionally unstable. I almost rolled my eyes at her defense. She was trying to make the jury believe that I had made it all up because I banged my head when I was younger. Perhaps it was the aforementioned clumsiness that caused all those bruises.

The doctor was dismissed and I wasn't shocked when Shay took the stand. She was sworn in and sat in the witness' seat looking more primed and proper than I'd ever seen. Her blue dress was entirely appropriate and complemented with a beige blazer and conservative pearls. Her pumps weren't nearly as high as I knew she could walk in and the color was the exact shade of her jacket. I wondered at how much fun she had picking that outfit out last night while Mr. Wright questioned her.

"Miss Shayla Santos-"

"It's Shayla Manuelita Arena Santos, ff you're going to use my proper name. But you can call me Shay if you like or Miss Arena Santos if we're going to be formal."

"Shay," My lawyer corrected. "How do you know Miss Montgomery?"

"She's my best friend. I've had the pleasure of knowing her for almost a year."

He went on to ask her about my character and how I reacted with other people. She told him that I was very isolated and found it hard to make new friends or socialize with other people. She said that it was a lot easier for me in social situations if I were approached first or else I would probably draw into myself. She said that I was prone to fall into random depressions where I, apparently, was borderline suicidal. Then he asked her what she knew about my home life. Shay explained that I was always hungry, lacked decent clothing and shoes, and was covered in bruises though she didn't know how many. She knew that there were nights that I didn't have electricity or water at home so she'd invite me to spend nights with her if she could.

Lissa's attorney attacked Shay's character as gently as she could. She made Shay seem like a spoiled little rich girl that didn't fully grasp "lower class problems." It was not neglect for a mother to work as hard as she could to provide for her only child and to sometimes not be able to pay one bill or another. Our economy was struggling and many were not as fortunate as Shayla, but it made sense the girl didn't understand that somethings, like brand new clothes, were considered a luxury- not a necessity. Shay left the stand with a frown on her pretty face, I knew that she knew the struggles of living poor even if she's never had the misfortune of doing so.

The next witness was my old science teacher Ms. Lomer. To say I was surprised to see here was an understatement. She told the court that I was a very bright girl, but my school work and attendance were lacking. Mr. Lomer said that she called my home numerous times for some kind of explanation and was only treated maliciously by Lissa or Mike. Lissa's lawyer tried to make it seem like Mike or Lissa were irritated by the teacher's relentless calling and interference in personal matters. Mrs. Montgomery was not preventing Madison from attending school, she simply did not have the energy to make her unruly daughter respect the need for education.

I was my attorney's last witness.

I sat in the hard plastic seat adjacent to the judge's bench. I remembered to direct my answers to the robed man like my lawyer had told me before the trial started. He asked me simple questions:_ Did your mother ever hit you out of anger, what kind of things did she hit you with? How old were you when the abuse started? Were you ever touched inappropriately, how old were you when you were first touched there? How many people have touched you there without your permission, who were they? Did your mother ever watch?..._

The questions never ended and I answered them thoroughly, if not a bit dully, but in my mind I screamed the answers at him. My face remained stoic, but there was a heat boiling inside me that I knew wasn't my own. I clamped down on his anger and pushed it into a corner inside my brain. Now was definitely not the time for Paul to be furious. After Mr. Wright finished Lissa's attorney started. She approached me cautiously, as if she knew I was a hare's breath away from blacking out and attempting wolfological murder. I was sure that no one in this court could survive half the beating I gave Brady. If I could feel anything I would have been amused by the thought.

At least I would have been amused until she asked about my father.

My vision blurred, but I held on to my sanity. She was really pushing it and out the corner of my eye I saw Lissa go still. I didn't notice she was rocking in her seat with fake tears until she stopped. It was an unspoken rule between us that we never talk about him, but this lawyer wasn't giving me a choice. She was using my own father's death against me, trying to make it seem like after he died I went bat shit. I was FOUR FUCKING YEARS OLD when he died. I was eight when this abuse shit started. I mean Lissa became neglectful the day he died, but I didn't fault her for it. She was an emotional wreck and I was a child. I needed her, but I didn't cling to her. I could handle her distance and later on I could handle being hit. It was being _touched_ that I could not tolerate. I didn't tell the lawyer this because if I started I wouldn't stop.

_Calm_, I told myself. _Stay calm. It's almost over._ She asked her last question and with dignity I left the stand. I didn't cry like I wanted to. I didn't glare at Lissa like I wanted to, but I did avoid Quala's eyes. God only knew what she was thinking while she sat in the back of the courtroom. Who would she believe, me (a virtual stranger) or her daughter? I returned to my seat and dug my nails into the soft wood of the table in front of me. I chewed my bottom lip violently while Lissa's attorney called her only witness to the stand. To my amazement it was not Lissa, instead it was the psychologist I met a few days ago.

"Dr. Payne what is your occupation?" Lissa's lawyer asked.

"I have a masters degree in Pediatric Psychology, but I currently work as a Child Abuse Counselor with Cook County's Family and Children Services."

"In what capacity do you know Madison Montgomery?"

"I've recently given Madison a full evaluation to determine the likeliness of her being abused in any way."

"How did you conduct this evaluation?"

"I asked Madison a series of questions and monitored her reactions to each one. I analyzed her behavior and compared it to sexually and physically abused adolescents in her age group.

When Madison entered my office I took her by the elbow and led her to a seat. She eyed my hands and arms cautiously every time I tried to touch her, even when it was just to shake her hand at the end of our meeting. This suggests that Madison has a wariness to physical contact- something that is very common among the physically and sexually abused. Though Madison answered all my questions she seemed to have difficulty concentrating and was withdrawn from the conversation. It was strenuous for her to keep eye contact with me. She often focused her attention on my hands trying to anticipate the next time I'd pat her leg or hand. These traits are frequently associated with the sexually or physically abused. Madison bit her thumb nail every time I asked her a question that made her uncomfortable. When I asked her about the biting she said it was something she did a lot as a child. It's typical for a sexually abused teen to revert to childish behaviors such as thumb sucking or bed wetting. Although it's summer and fairly warm outside Madison was wearing many layers of clothing. It is not uncommon for the physically or sexually abused to dress heavily to hide bruises. Some cover as much skin as possible because of the low-self esteem that may accompany abuse. There were other things that I noticed, but these were the most relevant."

"Based on your evaluation do you believe that Madison Montgomery has suffered from any forms of abuse?"

The psychologist's eyes slide to me and she hesitated before answering. "Honestly... it's very difficult to tell rather a teenager has been abused or not determined by behavior. Signs of sexual abuse may also derive from events like parents divorcing, deaths of a family member or pet, problems at school or with friends, or other anxiety inducing or traumatic events. It's especially hard to tell if the alleged abuse has been going on for so long that it is impossible to determine a change in behavior. It's very possible that Madison is just an awkward, moody teen who likes wearing layers of clothing. Professionally I would not say that Madison Montgomery is being abused based on her behavior and my observations alone."

"Thank you Dr. Payne, I have no further questions." Lissa's attorney took her seat while mine questioned the psychologist. Mr. Wright tried to make her testimony seem irrelevant by pointed out that one evaluation was hardly enough to determine if I was abused. Outwardly I was the picture of calm, inside I raged. How dare this _psychologist_ attempt to write me off as a "moody" teenager after only meeting me once. I was not moody!

The attorney's directed a few more words to the jury that I had forgotten about and the trial was officially over. The judge released the jury to go came and sat next to me. I held her hand and took a chance at peaking behind my shoulder to Quala. She was staring at her daughter, a million different emotions in her eyes. I turned my eyes to Lissa and saw that she was roughly scratching at her skin. She looked healthier. She was still too thin and her hair was cut shorter, but her skin wasn't so ashen and her eyes weren't lifeless or glassy. I stared at her for what seemed like forever, I couldn't remember the last time I saw her sober, but my attention was drawn away from her by the clearing of a throat. Mr. Wright stood in front of me in his light grey suit and silver cufflinks. He told me that it could take days for the jury to reach a decision and that Quala and I were to stay in Illinois until they were decided.

It took them fifteen minutes.

It was unanimous.

She was not guilty.

"What happened?" Asked Shayla. I would've asked it myself, but I was too busy seeing the red leak into my vision. The combination of my instant fury and Paul's constant anger was too much to handle. This time when the "episode" hit me it was slowly. I knew what it was, I could feel it coming. But this time I wasn't scared.

"They said.." He hesitated. "They said you didn't exactly act like a sexually and physically abused adolescent that's been neglected for almost half her life."

That was enough to set me off. I flipped the heavy table and it landed with a resonating bang. Papers covered in my lawyer's messy handwriting were everywhere. I watched with satisfaction as the old wood broke following the bang with a loud crack. My eyes turned to the jury box and I noticed their shocked faces.

I threw my arms out theatrically and quoted my favorite movie, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"

I yanked the sleeve of my button down up to my elbow and dug my nails deep into my wrist. I raked my hand up my arm quickly. Four deep and ragged scratched marred my pale skin. Blood dripped down my arm and onto the carpeted floor.

"IS THIS NOT WHY YOU ARE HERE?!" I asked while waving my bloody arm at them. One of the men looked ready to pass out and I laughed maniacally. I was just beginning to wonder if this was what a mental break down felt like when I was suddenly wrapped up in strong arms. For a moment I let myself hope, but I knew better. These arms weren't strong enough, weren't warm enough, weren't gentle enough to belong to the boy who held me for one night. I was wrapped up in the wrong arms so I fought them until all the fight was gone out of me and I blacked out.

_I was so tired of fighting._

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><p><strong>[AN] I took a few liberties with this chapter. For example there are no juries in juvenile court, I'm pretty sure that in a child abuse case the accused abuser would _have _to testify. But obviously Lissa pled the fifth (fifth amendment right to not incriminate oneself, for my non-American readers). And the jury does not _have _to disclose the reasons why they give the verdict they do, but I don't think it's illegal if they do. I'm not totally happy with the end product of this chapter, but I knew I couldn't take anymore time with it. **

**Did anyone catch my Gladiator reference?**

**Let me know what ya'll think. **

**Thanks for the new follows/favs and all the reviews. Jay, MissPaulLahote (a.k.a Tabby), Rogue's Queen, Whichever Guest that told me to hurry it up, I'm A Person, awesomeami316 You're all very much appreciated. **


	22. Chapter 22

I woke with a groan. My arm hurt and when I remembered why it hurt I groaned even louder. "They're going to throw me in the crazy house," I mumbled to myself.

"No they won't, but not from lack of trying."

I stiffened at the voice. What the fuck was she doing here? I opened my eyes and looked around me to figure out where exactly here was. The ceiling was covered in stains and lacking any type of light fixture, the walls were a dingy white, the bed I was on was stiff and uncomfortable, the mattress thin, the pillow hard, the sink and toilet were metal, the bars were old and rusty. On the other side a woman in an orange jumpsuit leaned against them.

"What am I doing in a jail cell Lissa?" I asked.

"You're not, you're in a holding cell at the juvenile courthouse. Fortunately for you the judge didn't order you to an asylum after that nice psychologist argued that it wasn't necessary. He did hold you in contempt of court though, but the punishment was just to scare you a bit by putting you in a cell. The doctor bandaged you up and you've only been... asleep for twenty minutes."

I looked down and acknowledged that the doctor did indeed bandage my arm. Well at least I wouldn't get an infection or something.

"And what are you doing here Lissa?"

"I asked if I could talk to you before I go back to my own cell in prison, the judge allowed it."

"What could you possibly have to say to me?" I asked, the exhaustion clear in my voice. Passing out did that to you.

"Look Maddy-"

"You're not allowed to call me that."

"Fine," She sighed. "Madison, I know I haven't exactly been mother of the year. I know I've done bad things to you- things I honestly can't even remember- and I know I've let bad things happen to you. I got so fucked up after your father died and I kind of just fell into a downward spiral. I started drinking heavily and dating constantly. Then I was introduced to one drug that lead to another harder drug that lead to another stronger drug. On my best days I was so high that I couldn't remember anything about my husband and that meant I easily forgot about you. And then on my worse days I couldn't forget his smile or the way his green eyes twinkled when he used to sing to me. Every time I saw you I was reminded of those green eyes- you look just like him you know. There isn't a speck of me that I can find in you other than that temper you've got."

She sniffled loudly and I cringed. I didn't like her comparing any part of me to her, but I refrained from interrupting because I knew Lissa like I knew the back of my hand. Sober or not she'd make me listen to everything she had to say.

"I hated you for how much you resemble him, I still kind of do. But I'm sober now and I'm trying to do better. I know that when I get out of prison I'll be a much better person."

"Why are you telling me this Lissa?" I asked stiffly.

"Because I know that when I get out you'll be well and grown, but maybe you could come back or I could go to La Push. We can be a family just you and me. And I know you probably hate me right now but, I wasn't myself these past few years and I got caught up in a life style-"

"Save your excuses Lissa. I don't hate you, but I don't love you either. I don't wish bad on you and I don't want anything to do with you ever again. I'm done having my heart broken by the people that are suppose to love me unconditionally. Some things I can't control, but I can control this. I'm done with you Lissa." I turned my back to her and threw the pillow over my head to muffle any other sound that she could make. It didn't work though and I still heard her when she quietly mumbled her parting words.

"Happy birthday Maddy."

Yeah, happy birthday to me.

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><p>A little under two weeks later I was in yet another courtroom receiving the verdict for Lissa's former boyfriend Mike. His jury had actually taken time to deliberate his case and managed to find him guilty of all his crimes- including rape, child molestation, and child abuse. He got a heaping of other charges that didn't really apply to me and ended up with a whopping twelve years. Knowing that he was going to be in jail for a really long time helped my melancholy mood. Between the fight with Paul and Lissa's verdict having Mike's life ruined was beneficial to lifting my spirits, but it wasn't by much. Quala was clearly worried about me. She had practically pushed me into Shayla's arms when she saw how depressed I was. I guess she was hoping that my best friend would be able to cheer me up and to some degree it did. It was impossible to be completely miserable around Shay.<p>

"I can't believe you're leaving me in two days. It's been amazing having you back by my side. I'm going to miss you even though you've been so mawkish."

"Mawkish?" I asked.

"It means sentimental in a feeble or sickly way. You're obviously pining over some boy you haven't told me about, which I resent by the way."

"There is no boy, if there was a boy I'd tell you. There was a boy..." Paul's handsome face flashed through my mind. "But I'm done with him."

"Why," Shay asked, taking a moment to look at me through one of the many mirrors in her bedroom. She was currently sitting at her vintage styled vanity- raking an old looking brush through her hair. "Did you hump him and dump him?"

A month ago I would have laughed at her joke (we both knew I wasn't the type to just sleep with a guy), but it hit a little too close to home. I had been, more or less, humped and dumped a few short weeks ago. My mood dropped just a little bit lower. Fortunately for me Shay had redirected her attention back to her own reflection while waiting for my answer. I briefly considered lying to her and telling her that nothing romantic happened, but Shayla was my best friend in the whole world. I knew I could talk to her about anything. With that in mind I decided to tell her about everything. Starting with the first time I argued with Paul at lunch and segwaying into my short lived relationship with Tyler before ending with the fall out between me and Paul. I spared no details, except him being a werewolf and what not. By the time I was done Shay had move from her mirror to sit next to me on her big canopy bed.

"That's heavy. He really said you were fucked up?" I nodded in answer and for a moment her usually smiling face was stormy. "Do you want me to break his kneecaps or something?"

For the first time on this stupid trip I genuinely laughed. And when Shay's face went from angry to insulted I laughed even harder. "What?! You don't think I could do it? If you haven't noticed I'm bigger than you and_ I_ actually work out. You might be scrappy, but I'm stronger. I could totally break kneecaps if I wanted to. It's too late though. I resend the offer. You don't appreciate me." By the time her stupid little rant was over I was flushed and out of breath.

Shay huffed, annoyed by my laughing at her, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I think you should probably head back to your motel." Her words sounded serious, but I could tell she was fighting a smile. She was the type of friend that didn't mind you laughing at her expense if she knew it made you happy and right now all Shay wanted was to make me happy. She had called me mawkish teasingly, but I knew that she didn't like anyone to be sad- especially not her best friend.

"I don't think so I've already got permission to stay here and I know for a fact that those pajamas you bought me are still in your closet. Get ready for me to hog all of your covers."

"Don't forget about your snoring. That's the worst part," She said with a giggle.

"I don't snore!" I argued before getting up to get ready for bed. I walked to Shay's en suite bathroom, my La Push problems momentarily forgotten. A wave of nostalgia hit me. This felt like old times and for a short second I missed my Chicago life. I missed seeing my best friend on a regular basis, I missed the normalcy that I had had. There were no vampires or werewolves or imprinting in Chicago. Everyday I knew what my life would bring. I knew I'd wake up with a shitty mom in a shitty apartment with a shitty life. I didn't have to worry about randomly blacking out because of someone else's anger, I didn't have to worry about a grandmother worrying about me. Was I really better off in Washington?

As I stared in Shayla's mirror I studied my reflection. I had more color to my skin despite the cloudy La Push weather. I assumed that it was because I was healthier. I wasn't as thin as I used to be. I had, without a doubt, gained more weight and curves from all the food Quala supplied. I was toned from having to walk everywhere in La Push, but not exactly fit or in shape. I knew I wasn't done growing- I was only fifteen after all, but I could tell that puberty was going to be good to me. My hair was a bit longer and definitely more poofy from all that rain it was exposed to. Over all I looked fuller, better, lively. But I knew I wasn't _feeling_ that way.

Inside there was a storm brewing. I was sure to be sad in La Push, sadder than I had ever been with Lissa. My eyes were dull and lifeless. I had always had vibrant green eyes that sparkled with emotion. Usually they weren't very happy emotions, but still- I had felt something. Since leaving La Push and Paul I felt dead inside. I was empty and incomplete without my wolf. I didn't know if I could stomach seeing him on a regular basis knowing that he'd never want me. I knew I really didn't have a choice though. There was no place here for me in Chicago. Not with Lissa in jail and Shayla off at private school. I was stuck in Washington with Paul. I was stuck as the rejected imprint and there was nothing I could do about it but buck up and grind it out.

After finishing my nightly routine I went back to Shay's bed to find her already sleeping. I turned off all the lights in her room except the vanity lights (they were sort of Shayla's night light) and crawled into bed next to her. As promised I snagged most of the covers and fell asleep into a dream that wasn't mine.

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><p>There were a lot of them and the smell burned my sensitive nose. The large fire with dark, billowing smoke didn't help either, but I didn't have time to contemplate that. My nose wasn't really a factor in this fight- I wasn't hunting. My prey was already nearing the clearing. There were so many of them, but I wasn't scared. I was born for this. I had natural strength and my instincts were killer- pun intended. Adding that to my training with the Cullens and I was prepared for what was to come. Anticipation coiled inside of me while the large crowd grew closer. I couldn't see them from my hiding place, but the telltale sign of feet hitting the hard ground gave me insight to their position and numbers. They were so close and coming in so fast. They were seconds away. I crouched lower to the ground ready to spring at my unsuspecting prey. Adrenaline bubbled against my chest and made my blood burn as I listened to Sam countdown.<p>

_Four, three, two..._

Horrifyingly loud snarls ripped through our throats as we lept as one. As Third in our pack I was in the second row of our formation- flanking the Alpha's left. This meant that I was the first to attack and I gleefully sunk my canines into a tall man's shoulder. He was not expecting wolves to attack him so he did not react quickly. I had managed to drag him far enough away that the rest of the pack could land efficiently and join in on the fighting. The man thrashed around violently, using some of that newborn strength the Cullens kept warning us about. He managed to jostle himself from in between my teeth, but not without losing a sizable chunk of his shoulder. He growled in pain and jumped towards me. I easily dodged his forward attack and was able to rake my sharp canines into his left leg. With his left leg and right arm injured he was horribly unbalanced. I easily took him out after that by leaping forward and ripping his throat out.

_Remove the head, destroy the brain. _Quil murmured in his head. The thought was directed to me, but it was Jared who replied.

_No you idiot! _He chastised. _That's for zombies. Everyone knows to kill a vampire you should remove the head and destroy the body. _

_With fire. _Collin added. His tone was petulant at best. He and Brady were still mad that they got stuck with guard duty back at the reservation.

From up in the mountains Seth sighed. _Well at least you aren't stuck babysitting Bella. You guys at least get to fight vampires. _

Jacob scoffed inwardly. We all knew that he would love nothing more than to be "stuck" with Bella. He was still swooning from their kiss, but finding out she was engaged kind of was killing that buzz.

_Yeah well- _Quil's though was cut off as he took a hit my a small, but strong girl. Her red eyes were angry and Quil quickly checked out of the conversation to focus. He wasn't about to get beat up by a girl as small as Alice Cullen.

_You all need to focus. _Sam chastised while tossing a hand into the fire. _Throw as many parts as you can into the fire, we don't want any of them to reassemble themselves. _

I had already moved on from the tall man during the conversation, this time fighting a seemingly middle aged leech. This fight was slightly more difficult because the newborns were no longer surprised. We circled each other as best we could with all the other fights surrounding us. It wasn't long before she went on the offence and flung herself at me. I remembered the southern Cullen telling us that newborns would always take the obvious kill so I was expecting her to strike first. Instead of blocking her I steeled myself to take the brunt of her attack. She crashed into my side and sent us tumbling across the battlefield. It hurt like hell, but I recovered a lot faster than she did. She had brought us closer to the fire like I had anticipated. She jumped up and made to charge me again, but the biggest Cullen- Emmett I think his name was- snagged her by her hair and ripped her head clean off her body. He smiled at me before tossing the head in the fire and flitting to help his mate.

I moved on to another and another and another. In my mind I checked in on all my packmates. They were doing fine, but I noticed that Seth had some unexpected company on the mountain. He had just been thrown against the mountainside and was fainting injury when Bella cut herself with a shard of rock. In my mind I sighed with exasperation. That girl was a fucking idiot. Focusing back on the clearing I saw that we were almost done. Carlisle and Esme were closing in on some girl and there were so few vampires left that most of my brothers were human and begging to throw scattered vampire parts around into the fire. I saw Leah... I started moving to help her without even thinking, she growled at me in her mind. She didn't say anything, but the message was clear. She didn't want my help. The leech didn't know she was there and she felt like she could take him on- especially in a surprise attack. I ignored her and continued to creep towards her and the newborn. God Leah was as stupid as Bella sometimes.

She growled out loud at that and foolishly gave away her position. The hiding vampire certainly hadn't missed her fierce growl and moved to attack her. She wasn't expecting it. Didn't see it coming. He was going to hit hurt and from his and her positions he had a clear shot at her neck. He was going to snap it. Except he didn't.

I had given up on stealth when the newborn discovered Leah. I had moved faster than I knew I could and managed to put myself between her and the leech. I knocked her out if the way, but didn't have any time to defend myself. The vampire wrapped his arms around my massive form and squeezed. Hard. I heard cracking and then I felt the worse pain I had ever felt. The man dropped me and I felt my already aching bones begin to shift adding to the pain I was experiencing. The air shimmered around me and I felt my bones begin to mold themselves into a different form. I could feel the curse words forming on my tongue, but didn't get the opportunity to express them. Right before I was fully human I was yanked out of my dream.

I layed on Shayla's bed covered in sweat and mentally exhausted. I subconsciously rubbed my right shoulder. I knew I wasn't physically hurt, but the pain of my wolf induced dream was real. I felt what he felt and it took me a minute to shake the feeling that I was breaking in half. I didn't know what I was supposed to feel. A million emotions flew through me, but two remained constant. First I was mad. There was just no escaping that boy, not even in sleep. Second was fear he was hurt and I didn't know if he was ok. I was pulled out of the dream too fast and he was still in danger. That vampire was still there, what would he do? Would he kill Paul, would he ignore him and turn to Leah? Did the other pack members see that he was in danger and move to help him? I didn't know and the not knowing was killing me.

But I didn't think he was dead. He couldn't be Surely, _surely _I would know if he had died. I'd feel it wouldn't I? I'd feel it in my bones and know it in my heart if Paul was dead. In that moment I knew, if Paul ever died I'd follow right after. I couldn't live in a world where he didn't exist. I wanted to roll my eyes at how stupid I sounded, but I knew it was true. My heart wouldn't be able to take it and I was certain it would give out if his ever did. Even with that knowledge I wasn't completely satisfied. I knew he wasn't dead, but I didn't know if he was _ok_. A quick glance at Shay's alarm clock told me the time was 4 am. Chicago was two hours ahead of La Push so it was 2 am there. Way too early to call any one there. And who would I call anyway? None of the wolves had their phones on them I was sure and I didn't have a majority of their numbers anyway. I didn't have Emily's number. There was nobody that I could get information from. My flight didn't leave until late tomorrow and I didn't know if I could bear to wait that long, but I knew I had to. In the meantime I just hoped that he was ok.

* * *

><p><strong>A long chapter that you all deserved. Shoutout to all those that reviewed, favorited, or liked. Especially Tabby (MissPaulLahote) who kindly told me to get off my ass lol. Sorry for the long wait. One more chapter though and maybe and epilogue. You guys are so awesome for sticking with me through this amazingly long process. <strong>

**With much love-**

**Bre.**

**P.S. Any questions? Any guesses for how these two are going to make up? And good God what the heck is wrong with Leah? Endangering our Paul like that. She should be thrown to the wolves.**


	23. Chapter 23

Shayla invited Quala and I to dinner the night before I left. She had wanted to get a bon voyage poster, but the restaurant wouldn't allow her to hang one up so she had to make do by writing it on the elegant looking linen napkins with a purple Sharpie marker. Quala almost had a heart attack when she found out that it cost Shay 240 dollars, but that wasn't nearly as expensive as the food. I was use to Shay dressing me up in her kind-of-too-big designer clothes so she can parade me around as her plus one so I found it funny that my grandmother was so uncomfortable. She kept fidgeting in the black dress that Shay bought for her as she stared at the Italian menu.

"I can't read any of this."

"Don't worry Grandmamma, I'll order for all of us," Responded Shayla. She had taken to calling Quala all kinds of grandmotherly names like Nana, Grandmother, Grams, Abuela and things like that. I could tell Quala ate it up and it made Shay happy too because all of her grandparents had passed when she was really young. I didn't mind my best friend commandeering Quala with how I had neglected her. It was even ironic that Shayla looked more like Quala's granddaughter than I did. Quala had the rustic skin of the Quileute people and Shay was the caramel color of her Latin ancestors. I was as pale as my ginger father used to be. They both had deep brown eyes while mine were a vibrant and emerald green. Both of their hair was wavy and brown (though Quala's was much darker) and mine was a vivid red. The only thing Quala and I had in common was our height. We were both on the shorter side while Shay was tall.

"What are you thinking about Madame Melancholy?" Shayla asked me.

"About how you're trying to steal my grandmother away from me,"

"Well I can't help it!" She exclaimed while throwing an arm over Quala's shoulder. "Who wouldn't want to steal a treasure like this."

I swore Quala blushed as she patted Shay's cheek affectionately. For a small moment I was jealous that Shayla charmed her way into the hearts of everyone she met while I struggled to make and keep friends. The only two girls I had met on my own in La Push had fallen out of my life and it was no one's fault but my own. The other girls, the pack girls, were only friendly because I was an imprint and they were uncomfortable around me when Paul and I had fell out from me leaving him to go see Tyler all those weeks ago. My jealously faded as quickly as it had come. It was impossible to get upset with Shay.

We got through dinner and while we were waiting for our desserts Shayla talked about the rest of her plans for the summer.

"Well I'm staying at home alone because dad and his wife are in Cuba on business. I could've stayed at the boarding school, but that just seemed kind of sad and lonely. I figured that if I stayed in Chicago that I could hang out with our housekeeper Carol, but since the condo has been vacant she only comes for a couple of hours every other day. Dad put Meghan on leave so I've basically been spending all my time at restaurants. And shopping."

"That sounds awful, I think."

"Yes Gran, it's terrifyingly lonely." Shay responded dramatically.

"You know what? You should call up that father of yours and see if it would be all right for you to spend the rest of the summer in La Push with us. That is if its ok with you Madison?"

I nodded my head excitedly. Having Shay in Washington with me would be an excellent distraction from my imprinting-werewolfy-boy problems, but only if my hunch about Paul not being dead was right. Good God I hoped he was alive. Just like that my mood soured instantly. He better be alive so I could kill him for putting me through this hell. While my thoughts turned murderous my best friend agreed to try calling her father when she got home later. The rest of dinner was uneventful and I was a poor, sulking conversationalist.

* * *

><p>I didn't say a single word through the entire flight. Quala and Shayla sat on either side of me, but I hardly took notice of them. My leg bounced uncontrollably and I had bit every last one of my fingernails down until they bled and the tips ached. After I ran out of nails I started worrying my bottom lip until it was swollen and raw from the abuse it took from my teeth. I started running out of things to put in my mouth after a while I settled for chewing on a thick strand of my hair. Quala looked a little grossed out by the action and Shayla actually threw an "ew" at me.<p>

When the plane stopped I was off of it as fast as I could. Quala laughed behind me and muttered something to Shay about me being excited to see Tyler. I made a mental note to explain to Quala that I was no longer seeing Tyler and that I would be dying single and alone. We all gathered our bags from off the baggage claim and I rushed outside. On my way out I hit a wall, but luckily it caught me. Jacob laughed nervously as my bags dropped to the ground. I heard Shayla behind me asking if I was alright, but I ignored her question and stared at Jake.

"Is he ok?" I asked.

"He's not dying or anything," His eyes flashed to my grandmother and best friend. "I'll tell you about it later."

"No, you'll tell me about it now. Right fucking now Jacob Black."

"You know I can't say anything about it around them," He nodded to the approaching pair of humans. "I'll tell you later."

"What will he tell you later?" Shayla asked nosily.

"I was planning on telling her how hot her friend is later," Jacob said with a winning smile and flirty wink. "I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Well you've succeeded. Hi I'm Shayla Manuelita Arena Santos, but you can call me Miss Arena Santos if you want to be formal. Or Shayla or Mrs. Whatever your last name-"

"Shayla get in the damn car we don't have time for your flirting!" I yelled neurotically.

Shayla looked up and winked at Jacob. His face changed from a boyish smirk to a big, cheesy grin. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened because my experience was so different from theirs. Jacob Black had imprinted of Shayla, the poor bastard. But that wasn't my concern at the moment.

"Let's get a mother fucking _move_ on it!"

"Don't curse," Quala chastised before handing her bags to Jake. That was enough to shake him out of imprint induced haze and I sighed in relief when everyone finally started moving to the car. Jake flirted shamelessly with Shayla the entire ride to Quala's house and she ate that shit up. I bounced my leg until the car stopped and then I threw myself out of the vehicle. I ran through the forest so hard towards Paul's house that I could have been a wolf myself. When I got there I knocked on his window just like I did the last time. But unlike last time the window was opened by Jared. Regardless of the uneasy feelings he had for me I climbed into the room with his help. Lounging inside was Seth, Brady, and Embry.

"Hey Maddy Cakes, wasn't expecting you to be here at all." Brady said with an easy smile. Other than Jake and Leah I was sure that Brady was the only wolf who actually liked me.

"Hi, Brady. Hi guys," I directed to the others. They gave me indifferent nods and that was the last attention I paid any of them. I edged towards Paul's bed and discovered that he was asleep. I didn't have any second thoughts about sliding off my shoes and climbing into bed with him- cautious of his right side. "So what happened? Jacob was being an ass and didn't tell me."

"We were nearing the end of a little tiny war when-"

"Yeah Brady I know that part. Thanks for telling me that you and Wolf were going to risk your lives before I left. I appreciate the heads up," I sneered.

"Well maybe if you hadn't fucking left Paul in the first place-" Jared growled. I started to rise up out of the bed and give him a piece of my mind, but was suddenly trapped. Paul had woken up during our conversation and I hadn't even noticed. His left arm wrapped around my waist and held me in place while I glared daggers at Jared. I could see the red haze tinge the edges of my vision, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. I don't think my icy glare affected him as much as the feral snarl that ripped out of Paul's throat.

"If you ever growl at her again I'll fucking kill you Jared, I swear to God I'll do it." His voice was thick with sleep and scratchy from disuse, but it only added to the seriousness of his words. Though I refrained, I had half a mind to stick my tongue out at Jared to rub in my victory. Jared mumbled something that my human ears couldn't pick up before shuffling out of the bedroom door. Seth and Embry wisely followed, but Brady stayed.

"So what's up with him Brady?" I ask again. "Is he going to live? Shouldn't he be all healed up by now with your wolf powers?"

"Well it's complicated. Paul's wolf hasn't been… compliant." He trailed off.

I pulled hard at my hair and let out a desperate huff, "Stop speaking in riddles and fucking tell me!"

"His entire right side was crushed by a newborn vampire. Broken ribs… bones… fractured lung… the whole nine yards. In wolf form he started healing too fast and things weren't setting right so Doctor Vamp had to re-break every single one of his bones again after he shifted back to reset them. It wasn't pretty and it hurt him like hell, but it was necessary according to the leech. Paul should've been healed completely by now- I mean it's been a couple of days. His wolf isn't up to it though. He's all emo and shit right now. Basically saying, 'What's the point of getting better without her? I'd rather lie here like a pussy because-'"

"Alright I think that's enough talking from you. Get the fuck out." Paul grumbled, his cheeks a bit flush from embarrassment. Brady gave Paul and I a cheeky bow before taking his exit. I was too scared to look at my Wolf so I didn't. I just tucked myself back into his side and hoped that he was ok with me being there. To be honest I was surprised he hadn't kicked me out yet. I could understand why he didn't do it in front of his friends, he was just a nice guy like that, but there was nothing stopping him now. There was nothing preventing him from telling me that he didn't want me.

He exhaled a deep breath of air and asked, "What are you doing here?"

And just like that any hope I had of him being interested in me disappeared. I could literally feel the pain in my heart like a nail being hammered into a coffin. I didn't answer his question because my throat had closed up in an attempt to keep my tears at bay. I considered getting up from the room and dragging myself back home, but that seemed like it would put far too much strain on my poor, unwanted body.

"You… you went back to _Chicago_," His voice broke. "Why would you leave me to go back there? Was living with your mom really better than being with me?"

"No Paul I-"

"I mean fucking _hell _Madison, you didn't even say goodbye."

"What does it matter to you if I left?" I asked defensively. "You got what you wanted didn't you? A quick fuck to satisfy your wolf. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. And then I was gone so I couldn't force myself on you ever again!"

"That's not how it was!"

"Then how the hell was it Paul?! You said you didn't want me!" I yelled back.

"I love you of course I want you," He whispered. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and it kind of broke me a little that he would use that in an argument.

"Why the would you say that to me?" I cried. Wet, sloppy tears ran down my cheeks.

"Because I mean it. Damn it Maddy, I love you more than anything I've ever loved before and you fucking left me." He started shaking and I wrapped my arms around him to keep him from getting too upset.

"I didn't leave." I mumbled into his chest.

"Yea you did Madison. Jacob drove you all the way to the fucking airport. You just left!"

"I was at Lissa's trial." I deadpanned, he stilled almost instantly beneath me. "She got away with every single thing she ever did to me, but that doesn't matter. I'm here in La Push to stay. Forever."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea you were going through that."

I adjusted myself so that he was able to see the anger in my eyes, "And I had no clue that you were preparing to fight in a fucking newborn war. I ought to kill you right now."

He flashed me a sheepish smile and shrugged his good shoulder. "I didn't want you to worry. You do know that I want you Madison, don't you?"

Uncertainty welled up inside me. "You didn't call me at all."

"You told me you didn't need me. I begged you to stay and you just ran away from me. You didn't even look back, it was like it was nothing at all for you to leave. I couldn't call you, I was scared that if I'd call you wouldn't answer. That doesn't mean that I didn't think about you every second of every day. That doesn't mean that I ever stopped wanting you. You're all I want, you're all I'll ever want." The emotion in his voice was so real and raw that I had no choice but to believe him. I threw my arms around his neck and peppered his face in kisses.

"I love you too Paul, I'll never stop needing you."

* * *

><p>Paul was all healed up in a couple of days and I didn't leave his bed for a week. We talked more about simpler issues in our relationship, but mostly we just fooled around. I learned that "someone" had called in an anonymous tip to the police department that Tyler might have been selling drugs out of his house. There was a small raid and Tyler was currently serving time for possession and intent to distribute. His brother was also locked up for a six months to a year for violating his parole and being around a bunch of illegal substances. I was a bit sad for Tyler, but not so much so that I voiced it.<p>

I met Paul's parents and found out why he didn't ever talk about them. His mother was timid, but cordial. She was like a tiny little bird that left the nest a bit too early. Everything seemed to scare her and being around that jumpiness made me kind of nervous. His father was a brute. He threw his weight around, talked obnoxiously loud, drank all the time, and bullied his wife and son. It was fair to say that we spent a lot of our days at Quala or Sam's house.

Paul met Shayla. She slapped him (naturally) and threatened to fuck his shit up if he ever said another mean word to me. She was icing her hand for days. He absolutely loved her. Through Shay, I started hanging out more with the pack girls and found out that they didn't dislike me per say. They just didn't know me well enough. So we were all cordial now, I still preferred Shay to them though.

Paul and I were officially dating. Like we actually held hands and shit in public- it was so foreign, but it still felt natural to me. Everything I did with Paul felt right when I didn't spend my days fighting the pull. Everything wasn't rainbows and sunshine though. We still argued, I still cussed him out and hit him upside the head with brooms and baseball bats. He still gave as good as he got, only this time the arguments ended in searing kisses or make up sex.

I got to know Wolf a lot better. He was a playful kind of animal and put me in the mind of a big puppy. He nipped at my skin, batted at me with his tail, and knocked me down on the ground so he could lick my face without abandon. He loved when I scratched behind his ears so much that his long tongue lolled out of his mouth in pleasurable satisfaction. His favorite thing to do was run. I would hop up on his back like a horse and he would fly through the tick coverage of La Push's forests. He would weave through the trees and hop over fallen trunks like a prized pony at a fair.

I was legitimately happy in every aspect of my life for the first time in a long time. I had a grandmother who cared about me, my crazy best friend who always had my back, a wolf that would keep me safe, and a boyfriend who not only wanted, but loved me with everything that he had.

I could honestly say that life was good.

* * *

><p>His hands shook in poorly veiled rage. I could feel his anger crawling over my skin and if I were to look in a mirror I was sure that the color black would be leaking into my eyes like spilled ink. I felt no anger of my own so it was easy to shake it off. I pulled the huge, leather bound journal out of his tight grasp before I climbed into his lap. I ran my pale little hands over his shortly cropped hair in an attempt to calm him.<p>

"I told you that you wouldn't want to read it," I said. I made sure that my voice was smooth and void of any mocking- it would not do either one of us any favors if he were to lose his temper.

"I didn't know it'd be this bad. You've kept all these secrets." He shook his head in nonbelief.

"And now you know them all. You truly did get the fucked up imprint." I tried to hide the pain in my voice by laughing a bit at the end. Despite the fact that we had talked about how Paul hadn't meant it the way it sounded, I still felt pain when I thought of those words.

"No," He said as he buried his head in my hair. "I got the strong imprint. And I'll never stop trying to prove to you how much I want you."

I let out a little sigh of relief at his words. It was weak how often I needed reassurance of rather or not he wanted me, but I didn't care and neither did he. Besides, Paul needed to hear that I needed him as much as I needed to hear that he wanted me.

"So what do you want to do?" He asked quietly.

"I don't want it anymore. It's only a reminder of everything that's ever went wrong in my life. Let's burn it."

He hummed in approval. "Do you want to have our own special little bonfire tonight? You won't ever have to look at the journal again."

"That sounds perfect," I said. I felt a heavy burden lift off of my shoulders at the thought of eliminating the only piece of Lissa I had left. I adjusted myself so that I was facing my wolf and straddling his thighs. I gave him a quick peck on his lips.

His answering smile was brilliant as he said, "I love you, I want you."

I saw the reflection of my own bright smile through his dark brown eyes when I responded with, "I love you, I need you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So there we have it, after a little over a year (I think) I've finally completed this story. I'm satisfied with the ending. I obviously wasn't going to jump in time and do the "They got married and had tons of happy kids ..." thing. I mean she just turned 15 after all. Which is horrifyingly young to know exactly who you'll be with for the rest of your life. I hope I was able to present Madison with the maturity of someone who's been through something as well as a girl who's got that recklessness of still being an angry youth. But who knows the impression that you have of her. **

**I always forget something in these and then remember what I forgot later on. It's frustrating really. Firstly a huge THANK YOU to anyone and everyone who's followed/favorited/read/alerted/and REVIEWED to this story. I appreciate you all emensly. And also for those who did those things for me as a writer. Again, Thank You. This was my first ever FF which means it's not very good. I've learned a lot about myself as a writer during this process and am thankful that you all decided to stick it out with me.**

**As you can see I've made Shayla and Jacob an imprinted pair. That's a setup for an unpromised sequel. I plan on pursuing their relationship, but I haven't the slightest clue when that'll be seeing as I've already started on another fic. **

**Now I'm rambling, but this will be the last time I get to talk to most of you through YCFM. Review or PM me if I've left any question of yours unanswered. I'll be happy to fill in any blanks. **

**-Bre**

**_I KNOW WHAT I FORGOT! _There's a pic up of who inspired Madison's looks on my profile. You guys should check it out, she's really pretty.**


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